A Napkin's Worth A Thousand Words
by blacknails512
Summary: It took a moment for me to figure out what he was doing but I finally got it. 'Eye can knot ear you.' 'I cannot hear you.' Oh god, I thought. He's deaf... AU/AH
1. One Napkin

**A/N- So this sort of just came to me when I was thinking "So a gay walks into a bar" and I just went from there. I've always liked the idea of Magnus being a bartender… I might continue this into a multi chapter story someday if you guys like it.**

**Disclaimer- The Mortal Instruments series belongs to Cassandra Clare which unfortunately means that Magnus and Alec do too. I cry. **

Friday nights were always our busiest. After long, grueling weeks of working for a living, everyone immediately flooded to the place where they could drink all they damn well pleased without their wives or husbands or nagging children telling them that they're alcoholics and that they need help. No one is an alcoholic at Shattered Glass. That's just how it goes at my bar.

Even though I technically owned the place, I still bartended there, along with my best girlfriend Camille. She was currently leaning over the bar and nearly shoving her boobs in some guys face as she handed him his third vodka. He wasn't even that cute.

"Camille," I shouted over at her. "Watch it, sweetheart."

She winked her heavily mascaraed eye. "Whatever pays the bills, Maggie."

I just shook my head and turned my attention back to the glass I was cleaning. When you were a girl bartender, you didn't pay the bills strictly from what you earned at the bar, it was mostly the tips you got when you showed your boobs to people. Though, Camille had no problem with that.

Things were in full swing by eleven, as we stayed open till three, and in my opinion it was a pretty good night. No one had thrown up on me, or tried to grope me without my permission, or gotten in a fight, or anything. Maybe I just thought it was a calmer night because compared to New Year's Eve, an earthquake would be considered calm.

I was about to call it a night; head out early and let Camille and Jace take care of things. They were like the golden wonder twins, both with blonde hair and huge egos. I admit, they were both extremely hot, and that's probably where all of our income came from, but neither one were really my type. Too egotistical for me. I preferred people who were a bit more modest, and I didn't know Jace all that well anyways.

Just as I was about to do my routine check over before leaving (pants, underwear, wallet, etc.) I saw someone whom had never stepped foot in Shattered Glass sit down at the bar, right in front of me. I saw in my peripheral vision when Jace slid the guy a can of beer. He didn't even look up, but cracked it open nonetheless, his long black hair covering his face.

"Jace," I said, walking over to him on the opposite side of the bar. "You know that guy?"

He nodded and shoved a beer into some girl's hand so she'd leave him alone. "Yeah, his mom adopted me when I was really lit-"

"Do you care if I talk to him?" I asked quickly.

He seemed taken aback for a moment. "Well no, but-"

"Thanks." I walked off back to where the cute boy was sitting, ignoring Jace calling my name. What he would've told me wouldn't have stopped me from talking to him anyways. "Hey," I said to him once I got there. He didn't even look up, just kept his head down. "Hello?" I tapped the wooden bar in front of him with my knuckles and he jumped out of his skin, whipping his head up to look at me.

"What's your name, cutie?" I asked slyly. He just raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What, I'm not your type?"

He shook his head, opening and closing his mouth for a moment, his eyebrows scrunched together. His pale finger removed itself from the beer and pointed to his deep blue eye, then back to the can of alcohol. Then it went to the draw string of the hoodie he was wearing and pointed to the small knot at the end. His finger brushed his ear and finally pointed at me. It took a moment for me to figure out what he was doing but I finally got it.

_Eye can knot ear you_.

I cannot hear you.

_Oh god,_ I thought. _He's deaf._

Maybe someone else would apologize and blow him off, but now I was interested. I wanted to know his name, his story, how the hell he put up with Jace for so many years, everything. I held up my finger in a 'stay there' kind of way and soon returned with a small stack of napkins and my favorite clicky pen. I scribbled down a simple question and slid the napkin towards him along with the pen.

_What's your name?_

He looked at it with curiosity for a few moments but took the pen anyways and wrote down a shaky reply, pushing the napkin towards me again.

**Alec**

That didn't seem like a very common name to me, though it was cute.

_Is that short for something?_

I think Alec was shocked that I was still talking to him because every time he picked up that pen he hesitated for just a moment.

**Alexander**

I smiled.

_A cute name for an equally cute boy._

He blushed when he read that and shyly smiled up at me.

**What's your name?**

Jace was watching us from across the bar with mild curiosity, but I wasn't really paying attention to him. I was much too focused on figuring out what shade of blue Alec's eyes were.

_Magnus Bane._

He was blushing again.

**I like that. **

With the napkin in front of me and the pen in my hand, I wasn't sure what to say next. I didn't know if it would be rude to ask him the questions that had been buzzing around in my head. I'd never met a deaf person before.

_Can I ask you a question?_

**You just did.**

I chuckled.

_You're clever. I just want to know- Have you been deaf all your life?_

He bit his lip as he wrote a reply.

**It's a Helen Keller sort of situation. **

_So you weren't born like this?_

**No. I got sick when I was really young. Fever. Doctors said there was nothing they could do and that I was lucky I could still see.**

I thought about what I would do if my hearing was suddenly taken away from me. It brought up a lot of other questions.

_Do you remember what it was like to hear?_

When I pushed the napkin toward Alec and he read it, his head tilted to the side and his eyes closed. I thought I'd said… er, written something wrong but he was slowly writing something down and handing me the napkin again.

**I remember the sound of my mom's voice. That's it though. **

_Do you use sign language now?_

**Yeah. **

I was about to ask him to show me a few signs but I realized we were out of napkin room and had to grab another one. I officially liked this kid. Alec. He didn't seem to crave pity from others or feel sorry for himself. He was adorable in every sense of the word, with that black hair and blue eyes combo. I was a sucker for blue eyes and his were beautiful.

_Can you show me some?_

His right hand quickly went through 26 different fluid motions and when I blinked I think I missed about five. Of course I recognized it as the alphabet but the only letters I knew were A, J, and Z.

_That's incredible. _

And there was that delicious blush again. He was obviously not used to being complimented and I thought I'd use that to my advantage.

**Years of practice. The alphabet was the first thing I learned.**

Our conversation went on for many more napkins, and the low rumble of the talkative bar dissipated throughout the very early morning, leaving my mind to believe it was just Alec and I in the whole room. He was the sweetest thing I'd ever met, and by far the cutest. I was about to ask him out but I needed to know one more thing.

_Are you gay?_

He was about to write down an answer when Jace tapped his shoulder and signed something to him. Since when did Jace know sign language?

"Magnus," Jace said. "Will you lock up?"

What?

I looked around and saw that everyone had left, even Camille was gone, and it was just the three of us. I wondered just how long Alec and I had been talking. Writing, rather.

"Yeah, s-sure." He gave me a look and signed something else to Alec, shrugging on his leather jacket before walking out.

Alec waved goodbye to me so I assumed he was Jace's ride home. He was about to get up to leave, but I gently held him back by his wrist and wrote down one more thing.

_Text me? 1-561-893-1175_

He took one look at the napkin and nodded, folding up the material and putting it in his hoodie pocket. The smile he gave me was one that made my heart do too many things at once and I smiled back immediately, watching him as he left.

I did as Jace asked of me and locked everything up, checking to make sure no one had stolen anything, the usual. Before I left, I gathered up all of our scrawled on napkins and carefully placed them in my pocket, smiling all the way home.

**A/N- Well, it was better in my head but I still like it. Please review. I'd just like to know if I still have my mojo, because I cannot get the next chapter of Innocent up for the life of me. Goodness.  
>Thanks for reading everyone. Can't wait to hear feedback.<br>~Ella **


	2. Two Napkins

**A/N- Hello everybody. I've decided to continue this because all of my amazing twenty-four reviews were really positive and I feel like this would be a good way to keep my creative juices flowing and all that jazz. All of my other stories are being poopy to my brain and I like this one better. Well, right now I do. **

**I changed the rating to M because there will definitely be lemons later. Don't know when but there are always lemons. Shoot. Sorry for those of you who dislike lemons and think they ruin plotlines. You're crazy and I'm glad you're gone. **

**Disclaimer- wow, do I really need this? I don't own anything. **

As soon as I woke up the next day around noon, I immediately checked my phone for new messages. I sighed when I found that I only had two, both of which were from Camille, one stating that if I found her bra in the backroom not to be alarmed, and the second one saying she'd be late for work today. We opened around 1 in the afternoon, earlier if there's a game on or something, so she must've had a pretty intense night to be that late.

Chairman Meow, only the bestest kitty in all of the land, mewed softly in my ear as he curled up on the bed next to me. It was the cutest sound ever and my mind wandered for a while as I thought about what it would be like to not be able to hear it. I groaned into my pillow when I realized how desperately I wanted to talk to Alec again. I met him one time for crying out loud.

The night before, even though I got home just before four in the morning, I went online and researched a few common words in sign language along with the alphabet. I hardly remembered any when I woke up but it's the thought that counts.

After brushing my teeth, showering, and bringing my hair back to its spikey perfection, I fed Chairman Meow and grabbed the keys to my lovely convertible. My lips pursed when I saw that it was raining outside. Fucking rain messes up everything. It was going to be a slow day at Shattered Glass.

Jace was already cleaning down the bar when I arrived and he had a small smile on his face. Camille was obviously a no-show, but I was more concerned about Jace. He never smiled when he first got to work; it was only when the girls started showing up that he got into a better mood.

"You look happy," I commented. "Get laid or something?"

"Actually no," he said, surprising me. He had a girl on him every other day, especially on Fridays. "Just in a good mood."

"So…" I hopped up onto the bar and swung my legs back and forth like a child. "Alec."

"What about him?"

"He's cute."

The glass Jace had been holding unceremoniously fell into the sink and he huffed at me. "What are you getting at?"

"Would you be completely against it if I asked him out?" I gave him a hopeful smile but his glare remained unchanged.

"I know you well enough to realize when you 'ask someone out' you just get them into bed," he explained. "Alec is too innocent for that. And you barely even know him."

"I wasn't going to… to try and deflower him or anything," I said quietly. "I just want to get to know him."

"Well, I guess I wouldn't mind," he said after much deliberation. "I mean he seems pretty into you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he wouldn't shut up about you last night. I considered taping down his arms just so he'd quit signing."

I giggled like a teenage girl and was damn proud of it. "Is he coming by today?"

"No, my sister's picking me up tonight."

"Damnit."

"Calm down, you'll see him eventually. Now get your ass off the bar. People eat there."

* * *

><p>The entire day was filled with so much boring I think I died for a few hours and then came back to life only to see that things were still incredibly, and unfortunately <em>boring<em>. Apparently, there was a concert going on somewhere dry that was giving out free beer if you took your shirt off so no one was going to stroll into our bar asking for alcohol they actually had to pay for. Only a few people walked in, mostly to get away from the rain and eat all of our peanuts.

Around nine thirty, I was leaning on the bar with my elbows, my chin in my hand, utterly bored with my life. Jace was trying to talk two girls into staying but they left before he could work his charm. Camille was sneaking sips from the hose that squirted out beer and looking around like no one saw that. I could tell we all just wanted to go home.

"Jace, Camille," I muttered, getting their attention pretty quickly. "You two can go home early; I'll close up shop here."

"Thanks man," Jace said, gathering up his things. He and Camille said their goodbyes and left me to clean and close down.

I checked my phone probably a little too often while I was checking everything and locking the doors, but I was really expecting Alec to text me. My first thought was that maybe Jace was lying when he said Alec seemed to like me, and my second thought was that Alec was just really shy. He acted like no one had ever spoken to him before and I wouldn't completely disbelieve that, mostly because people in New York weren't exactly ones to stop and try to talk to a deaf person. They were too busy. Call that a stereotype, but I'd been living in New York for years. I knew how people worked.

With a new sense of disappointment, I closed everything down and went home, where Chairman Meow graciously welcomed me back with a content meow in my direction. I smiled and picked him up as I threw everything else on the coffee table and went straight to bed, kicking off my shoes on the way there. I fell asleep almost immediately and you could only guess what I dreamed about.

Three days, three annoyingly slow and boring days, passed until I finally heard from Alec. I was lying in bed one morning around eleven thirty, too lazy to actually get up but too awake to go back to sleep, aimlessly searching through the guide on my flat screen in hopes that something interesting would pop up, when my iPhone vibrated next to me. It was a number that wasn't on my contact list but I slid the unlock-bar and smiled widely when I saw the message.

**Hi. It's Alec. **

New Year's Eve at Shattered Glass was nothing compared to the mental happy dance that was going on inside my head. He was more socially inclined than I thought, as he was aware of the three day rule.

_I thought I'd never hear from you. Glad I was wrong. _

**Yeah, I'm glad I finally got up the courage to text you. **

_You text in complete sentences. _

**It's one of the few times I actually have a voice, so I use it as much as I can. Wud u lyk it bttr if i txtd lyk dis?**

I laughed, startling the feline who was snoozing next to me.

_No, I like the way you text just fine. _

**Can I ask you a question?**

_You just did :)_

**:) Clever… But seriously, why did you keep talking to me after I told you I was deaf?**

_Because you were and still are unbelievably cute. _

**Well… thank you. **

_You're quite welcome. You know, you never answered my other question. _

**Refresh my memory. **

_Are you gay? _

I noticed that it took him a minute or two longer to answer that one, and besides his first text it was the one message I anticipated the most. If he wasn't gay, he was at least curious, because I was openly flirting with him. I just needed to know for sure.

**Yes. I came out a few years ago. **

_As did I, though I think it was a little more obvious for me. _

**It's the sparkles in your hair that give it away. **

_You're probably right… I hate to say it, but I have to go get ready for work. Do you think you could stop by later? I'll bring actual lined paper this time._

**Sure, I'll see you then. **

_Bye :)_

**Bye :)**

I was giddy by the end of that conversation and quickly went through my morning to arrive at Shattered Glass earlier than I usually did. Jace hadn't even shown up yet and neither had Camille, but I didn't really care. I had something to look forward to all day long, and then something to be happy about when I got home.

Imagine my disappointment when Alec didn't show up for hours. I originally started getting antsy after lunch, and by dinner I was just assuming he wasn't going to come. I didn't know him well enough to figure out if he had something else he needed to be doing but I was still upset.

"What's the matter with you?" Camille finally said when she had the time to get a word in around midnight. "You're all… fidgety… and your sweaty hands keep leaving prints on all the glass."

"I am not _fidgety," _I snapped at her. "I'm waiting for someone."

"Well either wash your hands or stop touching things." And she sauntered off in her little booty shorts and high heels, clicking away to tend to a greedy costumer.

I officially gave up and sighed, just assuming he wasn't going to show up anytime soon. And then, right on cue, like he'd just been waiting for me to give up, Alec walked through the doors of the bar, in all of his awkward cuteness. His eyes found me pretty quickly and he smiled as he sat down in the same seat he had a few days ago. I smiled back and grabbed the small notepad along with two clicky pens. Clicky pens ruled.

_You're cuter than I remember. _

I pushed the notepad towards him and handed him the second pen, feeling my smile grow when he blushed again. It was very noticeable against the paleness of his skin, though his dark hair hid some of it.

**You're sweet. **

_Just being honest. _

Jace was suddenly next to me, having snuck over like a little blonde ninja. "I didn't know you were coming," he said as he simultaneously signed the sentence to Alec. He was probably speaking for my benefit. When Alec signed something back, Jace turned to me. "You invited him?"

"Yeah, is that okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Just remember what I told you." He left Alec out of that part of the conversation and left without another word.

**What did Jace want you to remember?**

I blinked at the question, surprised.

_You caught all that?_

**Barely. I can sort of read lips, but Jace usually talks too fast. **

_Oh, well, it's not really important right now. I want to focus on getting to know you. _

**What would you like to know?**

_Everything. _

**A/N- And that's it for chapter two. I think I'm beginning to get the hang of deaf Alec. He's unbelievably cute to me and I just wanna give him a cookie or something. Hell, you all get cookies for being so awesome. *passes out cookies* Thank you for the amazingtastical 24 reviews and I will be here, anxiously awaiting the next 24 or however many I get :D  
>~Ella, who is so tired it is painful to keep her eyes open. <strong>


	3. Three Napkins

**A/N- Oooh, you guys *blushes* you're all so nice to me with your amazing reviews! Thank you so much. **

**Oh, those lemons will take a while. *dodges tomatoes* I'm sorry! I plan on taking it slow, like slower than it's been in other stories, though I'm not sure how I'm going to do that when I planned on making this a short story in between my other stories. Oh fuck that, I'll just have to make this story longer than I expected. I'll see if I can give you an estimated number of chapters next time. **

**Disclaimer- La di da di da, I don't own aaaaaaaaaaanything. **

_Let's start with something simple. What's your favorite food?_

That wasn't usually the first thing that came to one's mind when thinking about simple conversation starters. I was originally going to ask what his favorite band was but… well, he's deaf, I wasn't going to ask what kind of music he liked. That's rude. I was already devising a plan in my mind for what I was going to do when he actually came over to my house. I mean. IF he came over to my house.

**I don't really have a specific food that I like the most. I'm happy with anything that my sister doesn't cook. Wait, I take that back. I ****love**** spaghetti. **

I smiled at the way he underlined 'love' and could just imagine the way his voice would sound if he said it.

_So do I. Maybe I could make it for you sometime. _

**I'd like that. **

He smiled up at me and blushed just a little bit as he wrote something else and pushed the notepad in my direction. At first I didn't even read whatever he wrote down though I had the pen in my hand, posed and ready to reply. I was busy admiring Alec to the point where my train of thought veered off track completely and was consumed with _Alec, Alec, and Alec. _His beauty astounded me, and yet he didn't even seem like he was trying.

I was snapped out of my admiring when Alec's hand moved my own to the paper and clicked my pen for me. Just as I was about to read what he wrote down, the cutest sound I'd ever heard graced my ears. It was cuter than Chairman Meow after having catnip, it was cuter than a baby giggling as a puppy barked and licked its nose. It was cuter than a baby on a puppy on a unicorn on a rainbow.

Alec had giggled. No, it wasn't a silent giggle, he actually made noise. It was the only sound I'd ever heard him make and it would probably stay that way for a while, but I promised myself I'd try my damnedest to hear him make that sound again. I took my mind off of it for the time being and looked down at the paper.

**Do you think we could hang out one day, like outside of the bar?**

_Are you asking me out on a date?_

**I'm trying to. **

_Alexander, I would love to go on a date with you. _

When he read that, the little smile he made was almost as cute as his giggle. Almost.

**Where do you want to go?**

_Wherever you feel comfortable. _

**The park?**

_Sure. Is tomorrow okay? I can get off work early. _

**Yeah, and this is going to be stupid, but I'm really excited. **

_That's not stupid, I'm really excited too. You're not like any guys I've ever met. _

**How so?**

_Well, for lack of a better description, you're not an asshole. _

He giggled again, just a little louder that time and gave me a lopsided grin. From what I could hear of it, his voice was as beautiful as the rest of him. Maybe one day I'd get to hear it for real.

* * *

><p><em>Favorite color? <em>

It had taken us an hour and a half just to get to favorite colors, mostly due to the fact that writing took longer than actual conversation and I had to tend to the occasional customer. Jace was still watching us from afar, though he hadn't said anything to me since Alec first got there, which I was sort of happy about; I just met Alec, and I didn't want anything interfering with our time together. Even though we already had a date set up, I was trying to squeeze in as much of him as I could.

Over the last hour, the flow of alcoholics –I mean- _costumers_ slowed down a bit and my butt migrated to the top of the bar again, where I leaned against the column separating the bar itself in half. One side was Jace's, the other Camille's, and I helped out when I was needed. We had other bartenders, too, but they only showed up when we called for reinforcements. Take New Year's Eve for example. Things were going fine until five o'clock rolled around so we had to call Simon and Jordan to help us out.

**Do you count black as a color? Because that's kind of the only thing I wear. **

_I believe it's technically a shade, but I'll accept your answer. _

**What's yours?**

_Normally I would say yellow, but that blue swirling around in your eyes is worlds better. _

…**I never know how to reply when you give me compliments like that. **

_Saying 'thanks' usually works for you. _

**In that case, thanks. **

"Magnus," Jace said as he appeared next to me. I wasn't surprised that I hadn't noticed him; whenever I was writing with Alec, everything else gradually faded away. "Get your butt off the table."

Alec, who had obviously been reading his lips, smiled and grabbed me by the edge my shirt, gently dragging me across the bar and onto the stool next to him. Then he got up onto the bar himself, inadvertently giving me a fantastic view of his ass, and sat down in the exact same spot I had been in as he signed something to Jace. The golden bartender just sighed and walked away.

_What'd you say to him?_

**I kind of told him to fuck off. **

_Wow. _

He knew I meant 'wow' in a good way because I had been smiling and laughing just seconds before about it. He smiled back at me and took the notepad to write a reply, only blushing a little bit.

Our conversation went on like that until we pulled another all-nighter and finally decided to call it quits when Jace wouldn't leave us alone about how tired he was near three in the morning. His license was suspended for unknown reasons so he refused to go away until Alec finally agreed to take him home. Jace went to go wait in the car as Alec and I wrote our goodbyes to each other.

**What time should I come by tomorrow?**

_The same time you did today would be great. We can take a midnight walk through the park, have some alone time. _

**As long as we get back before Jace tries to drive, I'm all for it. **

I smiled as he slid off the bar he had been sitting on for at least two hours and stretched his muscles. There was a semi-awkward mini moment between us, as neither one of us were sure how to say goodbye. The last time we had just waved but back then I would've considered him an acquaintance and now… well I wasn't sure. At the same moment, we both decided a hug would be best, and it actually worked out quite well. His arms went to my waist and mine slid around his neck as we simultaneously pulled each other in. If I had taken the time to swivel my hips, we'd be slow dancing.

I was analyzing everything I did around him and how he responded for reasons that I weren't completely sure of. He was different, not just because he was deaf, but because he was so… innocent… genuine, kind, and clearly the cutest thing I'd ever gotten to lay my eyes on. I was going to do things right with him, and if that meant that I had to go at a glacial pace, then so be it.

We pulled away a bit too soon for me, and I think Alec would've liked to hold on a little longer, too, but he needed to get Jace home and I had to lock up the bar. My body immediately started to crave the warmth his provided and yet I had to let him go. He smiled before leaving and in a second he had disappeared.

Like every other night, I cleaned up those spots that Jace and Camille had missed, locked everything, double locked everything, and headed home. It was only when I tried to fall asleep that I realized I was too excited to do so.

**A/N- That was going to be longer but it's after midnight so I cut it a little short. Next up is the date and… maybe a kiss? Who knows… But I've got so many reviews, and I'll keep up the good, sweet, Malec-y chapters if you guys review them a lot, deal? Deal.  
>Oh, and Zak? I love you for reviewing four times, that's so fucking awesome of you. Keep that up if you have the energy to ^_^<br>~Ella, who is sorry this was posted so late. **


	4. Four Napkins

**A/N- Thanks for the reviews you guys! I hope this date chapter satisfies you enough to make you review even more ^_^ *hint, hint***

**Disclaimer- I own nothing. Damn. **

Jace and Camille wouldn't quit badgering me about my date with Alec that night. Every time I turned around, there were the golden wonder twins, one telling me that if I laid a hand on his brother I would be punched in the face, the other one saying that she was jealous of the 'hot piece of man beef' I'd scored. They were both being horribly annoying and I was more than ready to get the fuck out of there.

I'd only spent an hour and a half trying to pick out my attire for that evening and was very satisfied with what I came up with. I tried to keep it simple but not so casual that I looked like I didn't care, though I didn't want to seem like I was trying too hard. It was a pretty big ordeal to me and my final outfit was a nice _clean_ t-shirt that definitely brought out my eyes, and black skinny jeans, paired with my favorite black boots. My hair was left down and fell into my lined eyes. Casual yet interesting… I think.

"Magnus," Camille said in my ear as she slinked in next to me. "Looks like your sexy date is here." I followed her gaze to the front of the bar where Alec was standing, looking around for me.

"Thanks Cam." She grinned and walked away as I met Alec's eyes from across the room.

Alec's cuteness was almost overbearing. He didn't seem to realize that he was this awkward, adorable ball of adorable awkwardness. He looked a little nervous as he walked towards me, and to be honest I was nervous too. My heart was racing too fast and my hands were getting sweaty again. I shoved them in my pockets when I felt my phone vibrate. It was a text from Alec, of course.

**Ready to go?**

He was standing right in front of me, leaning on the bar, smiling a small, nervous smile. I nodded and followed him outside, saying goodbye to Cam and Jace, all the while trying to calm down my heartbeat.

Like I expected, no one was at the park when we arrived, seeing as how it was after midnight, though it all seemed a lot prettier and serine when no one was there. It was cold enough to make our noses turn light pink, especially Alec's, but it wasn't so cold that we were uncomfortable and we went straight to the path that winded around the park and eventually ended up in the center. Alec pulled out a sleek black iPhone and went on to tap a message that was sent to my own iPhone. Oh sweet technology.

**I hope Jace wasn't bothering you about this too much. **

_He wasn't too unbearable._

**Really? He wouldn't leave me alone this morning…**

_Maybe he's jealous. _

Alec giggled and shook his head.

**I doubt it. He's got a ginger girlfriend. **

He went on to explain that Jace was just overprotective of him and had been since they were little because people used to tease him and stuff. While reading this I was thinking _who does that? Who is that cruel?_ But I realized that some people just had no mercy towards others and felt the need to be awful to someone who had never done anything to them.

_I'm sorry you had to go through that. _

**Don't be. It made me a stronger person. People don't realize that I'm not stupid, I just can't hear. **

_That's one of the things I admire most about you. You're not wallowing in self-pity, you're living life. _

He blushed at that, just like I thought he would. Any compliment I ever gave him caused his cheeks to flame up. I thought maybe he'd get used to it after a few days, but I was wrong.

**Thank you. People are just ignorant. **

_You know, for someone who doesn't talk you sure do have a lot to say. _

**For someone who does talk you sure do let me ramble a lot.**

_Well like I said before, you've got a lot to say. _

**And you don't?**

_No, I've got plenty to say, I just let you go first. You said texting was one of the few times you had a voice, so why would I keep you from using it?_

**You really pay attention, don't you?**

_Why wouldn't I?_

**Did you know that you keep answering my questions with other questions?**

_I've been answering in questions?_

**Did you not realize that?**

_Why would you think I didn't realize that?_

**Why won't you really answer me?**

_Why are we still doing this?_

**Why did we start with this in the first place?**

_When do you think we'll stop?_

**Right now. **

_It's actually pretty hard coming up with questions as answers. _

**Is it?**

I looked up at him, saw the way he was smiling, and almost swooned right there. The cool wind was blowing his pitch black hair into those crystal blue eyes and his pink nose was the cherry on top. I realized that we were halfway through the path already, but I wasn't totally paying attention to it. I was still obviously staring at Alec who was staring back with a little curiosity. We had slowed our walking and the little voice in the back of my mind wasn't so little anymore, as it was screaming _KISS HIM, KISS HIM, KISS HIM… _but I just couldn't. Not yet, not when it wasn't even an hour into our first date. I had to control myself around him and that was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

**Are you okay?**

_Perfect. _

We continued at a bit of a faster pace down the path but we stopped texting for the time being, just enjoying having each other there and being outside. Alone. I was looking at him, but he was looking at everything else around him; the swaying trees, the frozen pond, the stars, everything. It made me wonder how much he actually went outside of the bar and his house. I decided to save the question for some other time.

**Magnus?**

_Yes?_

He paused quite a bit when typing his next message and more than hesitated before sending it to me.

**Is it okay if I hold your hand?**

_He is too cute, _I thought. I didn't even reply to his text but simply slid my right hand into his left and smiled at him. His hand was soft.

_Does that answer your question? _

**Yes…**

I looked over at him as he continued to stare at his surroundings, a bright yet tiny smile gracing his mouth. The poor thing was blushing his head off but he didn't remove his hand from mine and we strolled down the otherwise empty path together without a care in the world.

Eventually, it started getting too cold for us to stay outside, it was the middle of January so I wasn't expecting it to be warm, but we soon found shelter inside a local coffee shop that was open past midnight. The one girl working there was surprised that anyone had even shown up and I ordered Alec and I cups of hot chocolate, with a little extra whipped cream for him.

We sat down at a table a ways off from the main counter and ceased our hand holding only so we could drink our hot chocolate and text at the same time. I was in the middle of reading the paragraph he sent me about how much he loved to read when I looked up and saw him take a sip of hot chocolate, only to come away with whipped cream on his nose. I chuckled and wiped it off with a napkin then smiled when his cheeks heated up.

I went on to ask him what it was like not being able to hear, not in a rude way, but simply because I was curious and didn't want to end up like a lot of other ignorant people.

**For me it's totally normal and it's how I've been living since I was four years old. Some days I'm glad that I lost my hearing when I was young so I had time to get used to it. It's how I've been living for nineteen years… Though, sometimes in my dreams I can hear things. **

_Like?_

**My mother and father talking. Sometimes there's a baby, my younger sister, crying in the background, or the sound of sirens. It's usually either silent or I don't dream at all. You know those dreams where you're in trouble but you can't scream?**

_Yeah, I hate those. _

**I get those a lot.**

Even after finishing the hot chocolates, we remained inside the warm coffee shop, texting about everything and nothing at all, until the girl started to turn things off and clean things up. I paid her more than I needed too and went back to Alec, offering my hand to him. He gratefully took it and followed me back outside where we were greeted by frigid air and tiny snowflakes. How long had it been snowing? How long had we been inside?

**I think it's time to head back. **

I nodded and we took the short walk back to Shattered Glass where we stopped in the parking lot, in front of Alec's car. He had to go home, as Jace's license was legal again, but I needed to check on the wonder twins. Hopefully, they hadn't destroyed the place and given away all of our alcohol to the drunkards.

Alec was leaning against the driver side door of his very nice car, biting his lip and stalling before actually going home. Snowflakes were falling into his hair and his long, almost feminine, eyelashes that he batted in my direction. He opened his arms and I happily fell into them, letting his body engulf mine in warmth. We stayed there for a while before half pulling away; our arms were still around each other, but I could look into his eyes easily, especially with my fingers linked behind his neck.

The train of thought I believed to have left behind got back on track as I stared at Alec's lips. I had to bite my own lip pretty hard to keep myself under control when thoughts of kissing him, _tasting_ him, took over my mind. I was trying to take it slow with him, mind-bogglingly slow, and it was killing me, but I thought maybe, just _maybe_, he wouldn't freak out if I leaned forward enough to touch my lips to his.

So I did. And it was one of the best decisions I'd ever made.

At first, I could feel Alec's muscles tense up, but when my fingers threaded into his thick hair he relaxed and started to kiss me back. He tasted even sweeter than he looked and our mouths were still closed, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to get my tongue in his mouth, but I was getting ahead of myself. Alec was a damn good kisser which surprised me because he never spoke so he didn't use his mouth that often, unless he was signing a certain thing, and I didn't want to leave his lips behind. I pressed my mouth closer to his, trying to get as much of that sweet taste as possible.

My heart was jumping around painfully in my chest and the only reason why my hands weren't shaking was because they were in Alec's hair. I was giddy and scared, excited and nervous. I couldn't see his reaction yet, my eyes were closed, but from the way his lips moved with mine he seemed like he was enjoying it almost as much as I was. Our bodies were pressed closer together than they had been when we were embracing so that my hands were nearly touched the roof of his car. It was definitely the best first kiss I'd ever had.

Unfortunately, breathing is important when you're a human who needs oxygen to live, so we had to pull away. Alec's chest was rising and falling rapidly, as was mine, and we just stared at each other for a moment, both of our expressions obviously happy, until I sent him something.

_I'll see you tomorrow?_

**Of course. **

He smiled and kissed me one more time, very gently, before getting into his car and driving into the snowy night. I was beyond giddy at that point, going off into my own little land of deep blue eyes and incredibly soft lips. I had to put on a mildly calm face for when I walked back into the warm air of Shattered Glass and tried as hard as I could not to scream and do some sort of happy dance.

Camille immediately assaulted me with girly squeals and a bear hug. She was sort of hopping around in front of me in her leather pumps, trying to get me to join her by taking my hands and jumping all around.

"That was so cute!" she exclaimed.

"What was so cute?" I questioned, still almost dizzy with happiness.

"Pfft, that _kiss_!"

"You saw that?"

"His car is right next to the window," she explained. "Of course I saw."

"Did Jace see?" I muttered.

"Yeah," the man in question said from behind the bar. "I saw you two perfectly."

I pried Camille off of me and went over to where Jace was standing, sort of dreading what he was going to say to me. He didn't seem too angry, his brotherly glare was up but it almost always was unless he was grinning. I was afraid that he was going to be horribly mad at me but when I was in front of him all he did was smile a little.

"Magnus," he said, looking me straight in the eye. "I have no problem with you and Alec being together, it'll probably be good for him and all that, but I swear to fucking god, if you break his heart I will cut yours out and feed it to my cat."

I blinked. "I would never hurt him."

"That's why I said 'if'," he said. "One more thing- I really hope you aren't doing all this because you pity him. That's the last thing he needs."

**A/N- Okay so… I've ****never**** kissed anyone ****ever****, nor have I so much as held hands with someone I liked, so I hope I pulled off the sweet, semi awkwardness that is Alexander Lightwood. I'm only seventeen reviews away from one hundred (hint, hint, nudge, nudge.) I'm looking forward to what you guys thought of this chapter. Hopefully I'll see you all soon! **

**~Ella, who is now craving more sweet Malec. **


	5. Five Napkins

**A/N- I'm warning you now, this note is going to include lots of the following- psychotic screams, overuse of exclamation points, capital letters, underlines and possible italics, curses, excitement, and fangirl squeals. You've been warned. **

_**WAAAAAAAAHHHH! I GOT SO MANY REVIEWS I COULD JUST FUCKING DIE! I LOVE YOU ALL SO GODDAMN MUCH I'M JUST GOING TO BREAK DOWN IN TEARS! I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU! NEVER STOP REVIEWING AND I'LL NEVER STOP LOVING YOU AND I PROMISE, I SWEAR TO MOTHERFUCKING GOD, I WILL KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC CHAPTERS! THIS IS THE MOST WELL-LIKED STORY I'VE EVER WRITTEN AND I'M LITERALLY DYING A LITTLE ON THE INSIDE, STRICTLY DUE TO EXTREME HAPPINESS, ALL THANKS TO YOUR FUCKING AMAAAAAAAAZING REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU AND I WANT TO MARRY ALL OF YOU! POLYGAMY FOREVER! NOT REALLY, I'M NOT INTO THAT STUFF, BUT IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS! WAAAAAAAHHHH!**_

**Alright, whew *wipes forehead* that was intense.**

**Disclaimer- OH I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! *SOBS***

The next morning, well actually it was the next afternoon, I awoke to an unusually dark room. At first I was under the impression that it was still night and I had another few hours to sleep, but after taking a look outside I saw that it was just cloudy and flurrying. My clock said it was a little after noon and I sleepily rubbed my eyes as I grabbed my phone to send out a quick text to all the bartenders.

_Don't bother coming in today. It'll be slow; I can handle it by myself. I'll call if I need backup. _

I ignored the small slew of thanks I got and dragged my ass into the shower, still half asleep. My mind was shut off as my body went through the mechanical motions of bathing. The rest of me finally woke up when I had been under the hot jets of water for a while. Something in my memory clicked into place after ten minutes and I almost squealed.

Everything from the night before had come flooding back to me but the thing that really stood out was that kiss with Alec. There was a party in my brain as soon as I remembered it, remembered how happy I'd felt, remembered how soft his lips had been, how he'd let me kiss him for so long. I couldn't wait to do it again.

Though, I probably wouldn't be able to that day. Not many people were outside when I arrived at the bar and absolutely no one was inside. There were a few stragglers on the street, either trying to get to work or trying to go home, and I was suddenly disappointed when I realized how little of a chance I had of seeing Alec that day.

Shattered Glass was desolate and cold, much like it was outside, and I really didn't do anything once I was inside except enjoy the warmth and stomp the snow off my designer boots. I grabbed a soda from the fridge and docked my iPod in the small vintage jukebox we had sitting atop the bar, searching for something lovey and adorable. I finally gave into my desires and played an Adele song, feeling girly when I started singing along. It's not like I could help it; she's just got the voice of a British angel.

I could count the number of people who came in on one hand and throughout the day the snow started to get heavier and the flakes were getting fatter. It wasn't enough to make me worry about the roads but I knew for sure I'd be leaving early that night.

Sometime after I'd microwaved a dinner in the back room, I got a text from Alec asking me if I wanted to meet him at the small bookstore down the street. My obvious answer was an excited 'Yes!' which I played off as a cool 'Sure…' It was only seven, but I closed down early. I couldn't just leave the door unlocked and no one was going to come in anyways.

Alec greeted me with a long hug and chaste peck on the lips when I found him in the historical section of Barnes and Noble. The store used to be a Borders but the way everything was laid out still looked the same. It just had a different name and different café foods with more calories.

He had been curled up on one of the leather lounge chairs with some history book when I found him. There wasn't much different about his attire, save for the fact that his hair was a bit wilder, yet I zoned out for a little while just looking at him. He was engulfed back in his book and didn't notice me for a moment.

**You stare at me a lot.**

_I can't help it. I'm a sucker for blue eyes. _

All he did was smile and shake his head at me as he put down the huge novel he was reading. For a second there I was afraid I was creeping him out, but he just smiled at me and I felt a little reassured. I was still happy that I was seeing him that day, mostly because I thought I wouldn't get to for quite a while.

He moved over so there was enough room for both of us to sit on the same big chair and I happily joined him. The book he was reading moved back to its original shelf and he cozied up next to me without touching me too much. I had to keep reminding myself that we'd only known each other for a week. I needed to keep myself under control.

**I had a really good time last night. **

_Even though I just took you on a walk?_

**Well, we had coffee too. And we talked a lot. **

_That's true…_

**Not to mention that amazing kiss in the snow. **

I raised my eyebrows at that. He didn't usually say anything to make me blush yet he managed to do so for once, just barely. Before I could respond, he placed his index finger on my chin and turned my face towards his, pressing his lips to mine. I was surprised, but of course I kissed him back, though we pulled apart quickly.

**Sorry. **

_No, don't be sorry. You're a good kisser…_

**Your ellipsis insinuates that you've got something else to say. **

_I'm just wondering how many people you've kissed. _

**Not many. I've only had a few boyfriends and a girlfriend. **

_Girlfriend?_

**You can probably guess why that didn't end well. **

I laughed and pecked his cheek, smiling at the way his skin turned a light shade of pink. We were probably the only people in the store, and I knew for sure we were the only two in the historical section, so I wasn't too worried about PDA. Sometimes I was the tiniest bit surprised when he made a joke but I constantly reminded myself that he wasn't stupid. He just couldn't hear me. I needed to engrave that somewhere in my mind, just so I didn't slip up one day and offend him. _He's not stupid. He just can't hear me. _

For someone who only had his hearing for the first four years of his life, Alec was great at understanding things like insinuation, sarcasm, and a bunch of things that I probably wouldn't get had I never really heard them. He was amazing really, once you thought about it for a few seconds; he wasn't this poor helpless thing who couldn't do anything… he was more self-sufficient than most people I knew.

My eyes slid away from Alec's deep blue orbs to the large window at my right and widened when I saw how hard the snow was going. I made a mental note to check back in half an hour and see if we needed to go home early. It was hardly eight o'clock, I didn't want to leave him yet.

**Want to play Temple Run? Person with the highest score gets a prize.**

_What kind of prize?_

**That depends on who wins. **

_You're on. _

He smiled and started to pull up the app on his phone. I draped my legs over his as my arm went around his shoulder and I positioned my head so I could see the screen without catching a glare from the fluorescents above us. He selected the football player in blue and was up to well past a million points in no time, having gotten a ton of power ups. I smiled when my mind hatched a small idea and I picked up my own phone.

_Don't mess up. _

My timing was impeccable and the message popped up just as he was about to jump over a break in the temple. Though the game automatically paused, when he resumed it he was too late. The blue clad football player fell to his death and Alec turned to glare at me. His final score was somewhere in the upper 2 million zone. Impressive.

**That's cheating.**

_You didn't say anything about rules. _

**Just play. **

I had to remove my arm from his shoulder in order to get my Temple Run hand ready to play. I was a fucking boss at that game, I had even played it earlier that day when I was bored out of my mind at Shattered Glass. Alec wasn't the only one with power ups- I had a 2,500 meter boost right at the beginning and many more after that. Maybe it was because Alec didn't cheat or because every other second I was getting some sort of power thing, but I won anyways, reaching 3 million before running straight into a tree.

_What's my prize?_

**Nothing. You cheated.**

_I did no such thing. You simply didn't specify that there were any rules. _

**You still cheated. **

_Technically I did not. _

He didn't respond.

_Please?_

**Fine. **

I was in the middle of typing '_yay'_ when all of a sudden Alec was kissing me more passionately than he had so far and his tongue peaked out for a moment just to tease me. I was getting used to the hot almost makeout thing that was going on when he pulled away. My skin was heated and I blew hair out of my face. Alec giggled.

**If you hadn't cheated you would've gotten more.**

_Damnit. _

**It's your own fault. **

We both looked back outside and silently decided it would be safest to leave a little earlier than originally planned. I stopped him before we were out of the history section.

_Where's that book you were reading? I'll buy it for you._

**No, it's okay. **

_I insist. You can pay me back by picking up the coffee bill next time. _

He smiled as he quickly found the book and handed it to me. It was huge, weighing at least a few pounds.

**Thanks. **

_You're welcome. _

I paid for the book that surprisingly didn't cost too much and handed it to Alec on our way outside in the snowy night. Alec stopped by his car so he could drop off the heavy book and shivered in the cold when he turned back to me. Snow quickly covered our shoulders and hair and soon both our bodies were racked with cold. He gave me a warm hug and I buried my head in his shoulder, not wanting to leave him yet.

_One more kiss in the snow?_

He answered by kissing me very softly and my lips warmed up pretty fast. The tongue he'd rudely kept away from me made another appearance, this time for much longer. It prodded at my lips which I gratefully opened and it soon found its way into my mouth. A shuttering, fluttery feeling kept growing in my stomach and I realized it was _need_. Not in a sexual way, but… I don't know. I couldn't place it.

The feeling was still there though it was a little weaker when we pulled away from each other. I realized how ridiculously cold I was; my small jacket not providing much protection from the chilly air and even colder wind. Alec sent me one last smile before he got in his car and waved as he drove away.

Open-mouthed kisses on the second date. Win.

**A/N- I kinda don't like this as much as the other ones but that's probably because I'm stressed out. I freaking loved all of your amazing damn reviews and I truly hope that you give me just as many for this cruddy chapter. Oh, and I apologize for not getting this out sooner. Like I said before I'm really stressed out. It's hard to come up with a cute fluffy chapter when the author isn't in a cute fluffy mood.  
>~Ella, whose tummy hurts DX<strong>


	6. Six Napkins

**A/N- I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT. I WIN. If any of you know what I'm talking about, congrats, you're smarter than most people. If you're all confused as hell, it doesn't matter. I'm simply celebrating something I've been trying to achieve for two years. Fuck yeah *fist bump***

**Ooooh, sorry for not updating, I've been busy to say the least. Enough with the excuses, let's just get on with it xD**

**Disclaimer- I don't own TMI. *goes off to corner to cry***

Even though Alec had already driven away, I was still standing in the middle of the Barnes and Noble parking lot, with snow falling in my hair and freezing the tips of my eyelashes. My mind turned back on when I shivered almost violently and I made my way back to my car where the heater made the snow in my hair melt and drip down my neck. I turned up the radio but quickly changed the station when Katy Perry's shrill voice starting wailing about the one who got away. As much as I liked pop music, I'd rather listen to traffic than Katy fricking Perry.

Only a few minutes into my drive home, I got a text from Alec saying that there was a big wreck on the interstate that caused a traffic jam miles long. He said it'd be a lot easier to take one of the back roads. I hit a red light and responded to him.

_Texting and driving? That's not very safe. _

**I'm stuck in the traffic jam I warned you about. I believe texting and sitting is legal. Aren't you the one texting and driving?**

_No, I'm at a stop light. _

**Those don't last long. I'll let you go so you don't get arrested.**

_Good night. _

**Good night. **

Just as I'd tossed my phone in the other seat the light turned green and I thanked our impeccable texting capabilities. I made sure to drive past the interstate and cringed at how backed up it was. Alec probably wouldn't be home for hours.

Chairman Meow was lying on the counter when I got home, and any other time I would've sprayed him with water so he'd get off but he looked so cute with his eyes closed and his ear twitching a little. If I had to guess, I'd bet he was dreaming about catnip.

It was pretty early, but I was bored and tired, so I changed into silk sweats and chilled out on the couch as I watched a marathon of Project Runway for a few hours. I was in quite a lazy mood, yet my mind refused to shut the hell up for just a little while. It kept saying _Alec, Alec, Alec, Alexander. _I'd seen him almost every day in the last week and I _still_ couldn't get him out of my head. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Damnit," I groaned to myself when I felt my mind turning into lovey-dovey mush. Chairman Meow had woken up and softly padded over to me, hopping up onto my bare stomach. "Chairman," I sighed. "Do you think about Lady Mittens down in 4E as much as I think about Alec?"

He blinked.

"So that's normal?"

His head tilted to the left.

"What do you mean that's not normal?" I exclaimed. "Whenever you get next to Lady all you do is purr and prance around like a prissy little bastard."

"Mew."

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"Mrow."

"What was that?"

"Mrow."

"I don't know if he has a Facebook! What does it matter anyways? I have his phone number."

Blink.

"Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to look…"

"Mew."

"Yes, I'll see if Lady has one, too."

Having conversations with my cat was something that happened a lot when I was conflicted, especially if the sun was down and I'd just made out with the cutest boy in the universe. Sometimes I'd make up the replies that he gave me and other times I'd try to decipher his body language but either way he always helped me make up my mind about certain things.

I grabbed the iPad I'd saved up for and opened up my Facebook app. It immediately went to my profile where it showed my amazing 1,000+ friends, most of which I didn't know all that well, and I scrolled through my newsfeed until Jace's name popped up. He'd posted a status about some girl Clary who'd liked it in return and I thought _I bet Jace is friends with Alec._ I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before; my original plan was to search his name and look at all of the Alexander Lightwoods until I found the picture with midnight black hair and the deepest blue eyes. Looking through Jace's friends was a much better idea.

It really wasn't hard to find Alec once I'd tapped on Jace's name, as he was under the little side bar for family members. His profile picture was possibly the most adorable thing I'd ever had the good fortune to look at. Of course, Alec himself was the object of most of the adorableness, but it was also what he was doing. HHHe was leaning over a notebook, probably sketching something, as he sat against an off-white wall. The best thing was that he was biting his lip and smiling in a way that seemed like he knew someone was taking his picture but he kept on doing what he was doing.

Chairman, who was curled up atop the back of the couch, meowed approvingly and I nodded. "Yeah, he is cute."

Alec's profile was relatively blank, with only a few statuses every now and then, and not a lot of pictures of himself. He had a nice amount of friends but it just didn't seem like he used the site that often. It wasn't long until I saw some of his posts that dated back to about a year ago and one in particular caught my eye- it was a relationship status, one that said Alec was newly single.

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should keep Facebook stalking him until I found the guy he'd been in a relationship with, or if I should exit out of his profile before I accidentally commented on everything he did. My curiosity got the best of me and I kept looking for the status that would tell me who his old boyfriend was. I didn't find the post for a while and I found out that the guy he'd been with was someone named Chris Simmons, whose profile was much more full and self-centered. He had it set so everyone could see everything he did so I knew he was full of himself.

This Chris guy was really sexy, I'd give him that, but he wasn't anything particularly special, basically a brunette Jace. His profile wasn't much better; all of his statues were him going on about himself and these new clothes he bought and the people he fucked. Who gives a damn?

I went down his painfully long profile until I found the single status and saw that not even a week after that, he had a new boyfriend. What an asshole. I felt bad for Alec, mostly because Chris was a douchebag, but also because it seemed like he'd used him. I wanted so badly to just post on his wall that he was a fucking shithead, but I knew I couldn't do that. For one, this kid didn't even know me, and two, if Alec ever found out that I'd done something like that he'd more than likely be mad. I just blew a stray hair out of my face and went back to Alec's innocently cute profile.

All of his pictures were cute, not as cute as his profile pic, but still cute. There was one of him on the beach with a pale girl, who looked a bit younger than him with the same facial features and long dark hair, his sister. They were sitting in folding chairs, in the comfortable shade of a large umbrella, his sister was beaming at the camera but he was reading, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. The best part was that he was only wearing swim trunks and I could see the water that was making his skin glisten.

I was about to friend request him but I stopped myself. It was almost midnight and I'd be a little wigged out if someone asked to be my friend so late at night. Before I started drooling over the fantastic picture in front of me, I turned off my iPad and stretched my long limbs, petting Chairman Meow's head on my way to my bedroom.

It was a bit difficult to fall asleep that night. I was too busy thinking about Alec and his asshole of an ex-boyfriend and all of the questions I wanted to ask him. What was his middle name? What was his sister's name? Where did he grow up? What college did he go do? Who was his best friend? Why in the happy hell did he go out with a douche like Chris? How was he so goddamn _perfect?_ It was too much for me to handle and if I knew anything at all it was that I was falling so hard for Alec and I didn't know what to do besides enjoy it for as long as I could.

**A/N- Short chapter, sorry, but I needed a little filler of Magnus thinking about nothing but Alec and I gave you a little insight to Alec's past. Also, I'm still in the middle of deciding whether to put Max in here as his 14/15 year old self or make him dead. *ponders***

**Oh and fucking Fanfiction wouldn't fucking let me fucking login so I could fucking post this shit. -_- Quite frankly, I is pissed. **

**~Ella, who is watching the Walking Dead ^_^**


	7. Seven Napkins

**A/N- D'aww I love you guys *huggles* IT'S TIME FOR MAAAALLLEEEECCCC! Oh, and I decided to let Max live and be fifteen. It'll be a sweeter, less dramatic\angsty story if he were alive. **

**You all know how in the actual TMI books Alec refuses to tell anyone he's gay and all the readers are like "Goddamnit it, no one is going to disown you, get over yourself and go sex it up with Magnus'? Well, I was one of those people but now I think I understand him. I'm more or less just as confused as he is (was) and my parents are so open-minded I could literally tell them I liked to kiss chickens and the only thing they'd say is "Don't get bird flu," yet I can't seem to find the courage/guts/balls/whatever to talk to them about anything. My situation is a bit different, seeing as how I KNOW I like boys. It's the girls I'm confused about. I'm not asking for anyone's help but I needed to get that out and Ffn is basically my diary in author's notes. And I know none of ya'll are homophobes because why the hell would you be reading this if you hated anyone who was LGBT? I'm… I'm done now. Go read some Malec. My Malec. At least THEY'RE confident in their sexuality. *jealous***

**Disclaimer- Nothing is owned by me.**

I didn't get to see Alec that Friday, Shattered Glass was packed and I couldn't leave in the middle of the midnight rush, but I did find the time to text him to ask if he wanted to come over to my house on Sunday. Even though I was pretty sure what his answer would be, I was still nervous and immediately excited when he said yes. I didn't have that much time to celebrate though I did have a small moment with Camille in which we squealed together but after that it was back to business.

All day on Saturday she and I ran around the mall, trying to find a proper outfit for me and also the things I required for the date. I had an entire plan plotted out and I just needed the things to make it happen. Camille was more than happy to help me out with my clothes, though she insisted on also buying me condoms that I seriously didn't plan on using. My date with Alec was going to be strictly PG. Okay, more like PG-13, but I wasn't going to deflower him on the second and a half date.

She tried to ask me multiple times why I needed dry erase boards and Expo markers for a date but I just shrugged at her. Camille wouldn't stop badgering me and I finally snapped, slightly angry.

"He's deaf, okay? What the hell are we going to do at my house when he can't hear anything?"

Immediately after saying that I felt guilty and my chest clenched painfully, my cheeks felt too warm. Camille stared at me. "You left out the part about him being deaf last week."

"You never saw all of those times when he'd visit the bar and we communicated via writing on napkins?"

"No."

"You're so blonde."

She rolled her eyes. "I just can't believe all this time you two have never been able to talk to each other," she muttered. "And he's so sexy! How do you deal with that?"

"Deal with what?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"His hot bod! If he were anyone else, you would've already gotten in his pants."

"Jesus, am I that much of a man whore?"

"No hun, not really, but he's _so sexy._"

"Would you stop drooling over my boyfriend?" If my cheeks weren't already hot from Camille telling me how sexy Alec was and from being rude enough to be mad at Alec for something he couldn't control, they were absolutely on fire when I slipped up and called him my boyfriend. I wasn't putting labels on 'us' yet because I didn't know what to call 'us.'

"Whoa, you two are official?"

"I… don't know."

"Oh sure."

"I'm serious Camille! I don't know if he's looking for a long-term relationship…"

"Are _you_?"

"I don't know." Yes. Hell to the fucking yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All day every day YES.

She huffed at me and gathered up the shoes she had bought on our adventure in the mall. "I hope you figure this out because if he ends up being Will I'm coming after you and ripping your dick off then shoving it down your own throat."

After Camille left and I was alone in my house, my nerves just got worse. I wanted to ask Alec to be my boyfriend, like officially, but I didn't know if he'd be okay with that. I knew _I_ wanted someone to call my boyfriend, my significant other, my love, my baby, my everything… then again I'd just met Alec. But who's to say we couldn't get there one day?

I couldn't sleep that night. And no sleep would equal bags under my eyes which would make me worry about looking gross on my date which made me stress out, causing me to lose more sleep. Never in my life had someone made me such a nervous wreck.

Sunday morning rain was falling. It was weird how just a few days before it was a blizzard outside and that morning it was fifty degrees and raining. Though I'd only been up since twelve o'clock, Alec wasn't coming over for another few more hours, yet I was definitely ready for him to show up. My hair was done, my house was sort of clean, I was awake, I showered, I'd made double sure to clean the cat hair off of everything because he liked to wear black, and I was still sitting on the couch, my face a mask of confidence and self-assurance, when on the inside I was a thirteen year old girl about to go on her very first date and totally freaking out.

I'd left the main door unlocked so Alec could just come up and knock on my apartment door but as the minutes dragged on, I kept thinking that maybe he got lost or decided not to come or some other ridiculous scenario. Then, after I'd nervously rubbed Chairman's ears until he hissed at me, there was a hesitant knock at my door and I leapt off the couch. Then, realizing it would be best to calm down, I recollected myself and slowly opened the door, whiteboard in hand.

Of course, Alec was on the other side, his hair a sexy mess and his pale cheeks taking on a rosy tint when he saw my message on the board I was holding in front of him.

_Hi, come on in._

When he didn't move, I smiled and dragged him inside by the sleeve of his black hoodie, pecking him on the lips as he entered my house. After he took a quick look around I offered to give him a miniature tour of the small apartment, my hands shaking a little as I wrote it down on the whiteboard. I showed him the living room, and the bathroom, and when we got to the kitchen I set the board down so I could do something I'd been practicing for the last few nights. I signed the word kitchen to him and waited to see his reaction, fearing I'd screwed up and accidentally said something ridiculous like pants or something.

At first, Alec didn't do anything for a few seconds, but then his face broke into a huge grin and he engulfed me in a warm hug. I let his arms hold my body and smiled when he pulled away to grab the dry erase board, writing something in dark, heavy letters.

**Did you Google that?**

I nodded and accepted his kiss, smiling against his lips. Filled with the giddiness of getting something right, I had to stop myself from kissing him for too long and went to show him the rest of my house. I told him to make himself at home when we were back in the living and went to grab the two coffees I'd make in advance. They were still hot, mine with lots of milk and sugar and just a hint of cocoa, while his was just black. I joined him on the couch and we sat together, our backs leaning on the arms of the couch and our whiteboards on our knees so that our legs tangled together. Alec was holding the black marker I'd been using earlier while I settled down with the purple one.

_It feels like I haven't seen you in forever. _

**I know what you mean… Thank you for inviting me over. Your house definitely describes your personality. **

_I'll take that as a compliment. _

**It was intended to be one. **

I smiled and laughed as Alec's face took on a surprised expression and he picked up Chairman Meow from the floor. The tiny feline sniffed Alec one time and then immediately took to him, nuzzling his nose in his face and purring his tail off. Alec blushed but kept him curled up on his chest.

_His name is Chairman Meow._

**That is so cute!**

Alec continued to stroke Chairman until the cat fell asleep on his chest and we continued talking about what'd been going on in the last three days. I told him about how Shattered Glass was utterly insane on Friday and that I'd taken a few minutes to look up some different signs, though the only one I knew was kitchen.

As our conversations went on, more and more doodles appeared on our whiteboards; from little smiley faces to poorly drawn Chairman Meow's, and from rainbows drawn with the obscene amount of colorful markers I'd bought to a marker sketch of one of my eyes that Alec had taken less than a minute to do. He even got the color pretty close.

_I didn't know you could draw. _

**I love drawing. It's like another way to talk for me.**

_What do you like to draw?_

**I mostly draw people, because no two people look the same and it's nice to see the little differences in everyone. **

_I've never been able to draw very well so to me you just got twenty times more amazing. _

**Thanks. And I'm sure you're not that bad. **

_Well I'm a really good tracer._

He giggled the adorable giggle he had and was about to clear his filled up board with the Kleenex we'd been using but I stopped him and grabbed my phone to take a picture of the eye he'd drawn. It really was amazing, considering he'd used a marker, and after I'd made sure to get a good picture of it we went back to our conversations, eventually ending up in a game of 20 Questions. We already knew a lot about each other from the first time we met, so I wasn't surprised when we started getting into deeper questions. The whole Chris thing had been in the back of my mind since the one night I found out about him and I finally got up the courage to ask Alec about it.

_What was your ex-boyfriend like?_

Alec was biting his bottom lip but answered anyways.

**He was a jerk.**  
><strong>Do you remember your very first kiss?<strong>

_Of course. I was fourteen and the guy's lips tasted like fish sticks.  
>Why did you and your old boyfriend break-up?<em>

**It's a long story. **

_Then you better start writing. _

I could tell that Alec didn't really want to go into it and he paused for so long before writing something down that I was about to tell him to forget it and move on to the next question. He must've really been a man of his word when he said he'd honestly answer all of the questions I asked him because he blew hair out of his face and started writing. It must've been a pretty long story, as it took him a while to get it all down.

**I met him in college. There were lots of deaf students there and he was really cute and sweet, but after a while he started turning into an asshole. I stayed with him because he was deaf and I thought we had some sort of special connection. One day I caught him talking on his phone and it turns out he wasn't deaf at all. He only knew sign language because it looked good on his resume. **

It _was_ a long story; Alec's writing was so small I almost couldn't read it but once I'd read it all I felt my heart speed up. I felt bad for making him remember all of that and the look on his face said it had ended pretty badly between the two of them. I wanted to know more about what happened to him in his past, but I let the subject drop for a little while.

_Wow. I don't even have an accurate name to call him. That's just cruel._

**I'm fine now. It was a long time ago and I'm totally over him. **

_Good. He didn't deserve you anyways.  
>If you want to keep playing, it's your turn to ask a question. <em>

**When did you know for sure you were gay?**

_Oh, that's a hard one. All through eighth grade I was really confused but by the end I just knew. It's hard to explain.  
>Can we switch back to cell phones? My hand is starting to hurt. <em>

Alec giggled and nodded, setting his board on the coffee table and grabbing his phone out of his pocket. I stood up to stretch my back but went to the couch again as soon as I'd popped and cracked all of my muscles and gotten my phone.

_Your turn._

**What's the longest relationship you've ever been in?**

_Nine months… This might come off as a weird question but I need to know. Are we an official couple?_

**I'd like to think we are. Unless that's not what you're looking for.**

_No, I'm happy to call you my boyfriend. Very happy._

I looked up and saw Alec blushing rather darkly, his unruly hair mostly covering his beautiful eyes. He hadn't replied, and by the way he was biting his lip I could tell he didn't know what to say, though he really didn't need to say anything at all. I leaned my body across the small space between us and gently pressed my lips to his, getting the first real kiss from him in three days. Alec's phone fell somewhere in the cushions of my couch, though it's not like either one of us really cared, and he leaned back against the arm of the couch, letting his arms find their comfortable place around my hips. I inwardly smiled at the thought of kissing Alec… my boyfriend.

**A/N- Ah, I am sorry for taking so long and I know it's not that great but ya'll got some insight into Alec's life and next up is the Valentine's Day chapter which I'm sort of excited to write. Aiight, I'll check ya'll later.  
>~Ella, who is tired. <strong>


	8. Eight Napkins

**A/N- Hey everyone. Thanks for the review, I still love to hear you guys gush about the utter cuteness that is Malec. I can't believe I got to two hundred so quickly! Usually by this point I don't even have one hundred. And it's nice to know that a lot of you are in the same boat as I am, if you read the previous large and confused author's note. **

**Here we go.**

**Disclaimer- blah, blah, blah I own nothing. **

Valentine's Day. Pink and red hearts, chocolates, roses, KY, anything you could imagine. Boyfriends freaking out about forgetting it, girlfriends freaking out about what lingerie to buy, old married couples actually showing affection towards each other. The day of lovers. The day of lost virginities. The day of singles wallowing in self-pity. The day of… romance. And conveniently the same day as the one month anniversary of when Alec and I first met.

We didn't do anything particularly special that day. There were no extravagant gifts or dinner plans or declarations of everlasting love, though that's what I would have done with anyone else. Alec was very low-key; he didn't like being the center of attention and both of us were a lot happier just lying on my couch together after he showed up at my apartment with a lovely bouquet of red roses for me. I'd taken the cliché route and gotten a heart shaped box of chocolates for him and, even though I insisted they were just for him, we decided to share them together. There ended up being only a few left when we were finished with them, but Alec said he'd keep the box anyways.

Over the past few weeks we'd gotten to know each other a lot better, and Alec had been over pretty much every other day. He'd been helping me learn a few sign language words and was in the process of teaching me the alphabet. He was a great teacher and went little by little, bringing it all together once I'd gotten the hang of the little parts. Sometimes I'd forget things and would mess up the letters that had similar signs, mostly M and N. I'd get them confused when I was just learning how to writing years ago and I'd get them confused as an adult trying to sign them. Some things never change.

Though we'd gotten closer, Alec still didn't know some things about me, some deeply personal things that took me years to even tell Camille. I trusted him, of course I _trusted_ him, but that was something I wanted to keep to myself for just a bit longer, just until I was sure it'd be okay for him to know. And it's not like I was being selfish or rude; I'm sure there were things Alec hadn't told me either. But Valentine's Day isn't the time to be thinking about what we _weren't_ telling each other.

No, that day I was focusing on all of the things I loved about him. His eyes were number one on that list. The infinite depths of swirling blues and sometimes the smallest hint of purple never ceased to make my breath hitch if I got lost in them for too long. I could stare at those eyes for hours and never get bored with trying to find out what exactly was hidden behind them.

The unruly mop of midnight black hair on Alec's head was something I'd never figure out how to tame. His refusal to use a proper comb amazed me at some points, yet he always seemed to find a way to look totally messy and completely put together at the same time. His hair was never flat against his head, there was always one piece that never went down or stuck out at some odd angle, but he could pull it off in a way that made him ten times sexier. It was like never ending bedhead.

The porcelain skin that graced his entire body was absolutely flawless, in every meaning of the word. Even though we were always fully clothed around each other, from what I could see there was not a blemish on him. It was a creamy, pasty white that, contrasted with his black hair, made for a very beautiful combination. I couldn't help but stare at his skin sometimes, particularly his hands, as they were always so flawless, so relaxed and smooth.

Those lips, oh god those lips of his… I don't really have appropriate words to describe them. They were the perfect shade of pink to stand out against his skin and were big without being girly or too feminine. He had a nervous habit of biting his bottom lip but it was so soft it never got chapped or dry. His lips looked even cuter when they were a just a bit swollen from when we'd been kissing for too long, especially if they were a little wet.

It wasn't all just a physical attraction between us, though that was definitely a part of our relationship. Alec had a few quirks to his personality that always made me smile, mostly his giggle. It wasn't that hard to get him to make the cutest sound ever, but sometimes if I made him laugh too hard it'd just turn into a strange/cute silent laughter.

He was so innocent at times and his blush was something that proved that. Whether it was when I gave him a rather large compliment or when I'd use some sort of innuendo, it would begin and end with his cheeks turner a darker shade of pink than his lips and me laughing as I kissed the heat away.

Alec tended to make a multitude of small noises that I don't think he realizes he makes. Like if we're kissing for an extended period of time he'll make the tiniest noise in the back of his throat, no more than a slight exhale but I always notice it. And when he'd sneeze he would always look up and blink, like he'd been surprised about something.

All of those things wrapped up into one person equaled none other than Alexander Gabriel Lightwood, the man who made my heart clench and my stomach fill with butterflies, who made my skin heat up and my mind turn into a complete and utter mess. If I knew anything at all it was that I was falling awfully hard for him.

As we neared the end of Valentine's Day, Alec and I were still lying on our asses like we had been the whole day, holding each other close enough to feel secure but not suffocated. We were watching ESPN as it showed reruns of complete games sometimes and Alec loved to watch football. He told me it was because he could understand what was going on without having to hear and he liked the way the refs would use hand signals to explain penalties. Personally, football wasn't really my thing, hell _sports_ weren't really my thing, but if Alec liked it I'd watch it with him and there were some very nice looking men in tight pants I could look at for the time being.

Of course, at that time, with the sun down and the moon proudly displayed in the sky, neither one of us were really watching the game. It was mostly on for the light and the occasional conversation starter, but right then we were too busy making out to really care what was going on.

It hadn't taken as long as I thought it would for Alec to be comfortable enough to get horizontal with me but as soon as we'd gotten that far it was like we couldn't keep our lips to ourselves. We had never gone any farther than kissing and all of our clothes were _always_ on, but I still savored those moments we had together, the fleeting touches, the almost inaudible noises, everything.

At that particular moment in time, Alec was lying down and using the arm as a headrest while I was basically on top of him, letting my hands roam rather freely as his lips worked their magic. I swear, sometimes I thought he was a better kisser than I was and I was pretty damn good if you ask me. But Alec… he could figure out how to make that feeling in the pit of my stomach come back tenfold with just one simple movement.

I jumped a little when his tongue found its way into my mouth and my hand glided from his knee to the back of his thigh were I squeezed his leg, just barely. He leaned into my touch and let his hands drift to my hips, where his fingers grazed the small length of skin that was showing due to my t-shirt riding up. Eventually, those smooth fingers found their way underneath my shirt, sliding up and down my heated back. We rarely went under the shirt, but if Alec was okay with it then it's not like I was complaining.

Alec made that little noise I loved so much and I grinned to myself, happy that I was the one who made him do that. It was barely a moan but it made me kiss him harder, just so I had a better chance of hearing it again. No such luck with that, yet I was making out with the hottest/cutest man alive, so what did it matter what noises he made?

After I don't even know how long of a heated makeout session we had, we both had to pull our slightly swollen lips away from each other and catch our breath. Even in the dim light of my living room I could still see the way his deep blue eyes were glowing, staring straight at me and through me at the same time. Besides drawing and texting that was another way he could talk.

We both calmed down a bit and simultaneously turned our attention back to the rerun game. The one we had been more than halfway through was now over and two different teams were playing, the one in purple down by more than ten points. I didn't really know what was going on, not exactly, so I cradled Alec's perfect body against mine and we watched the rest of the game together until I looked down and saw that he had fallen asleep.

With his body against mine and my back against the couch, I knew if I tried to move so I could get him a pillow or something I'd wake him up and that was the last thing I wanted to do. In my current position, leaning on my elbow with my head in my hand, I could see his face perfectly and even though I didn't believe it was possible, he was cuter than before. His expression was one of peace of mind, all signs of stress gone. He looked completely at ease and that made me feel calmer, also a little tired. My head fell back onto the soft cushions and I slowly closed my eyes, letting my mind drift into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>I didn't know what time it was when I woke up again but it was considerably brighter outside. For a split second I thought it was morning but then I realized it was just the light of the rather full moon shining through the small cracks in the blinds. It was probably after midnight from how high the moon was and Alec was still asleep, his breathing soft and deep. I hated to wake him up but I didn't think he'd be okay with me ignoring it and letting him sleep on my couch for the entire night.<p>

I gently shook him with no success and resorted to kissing the back of his neck until he turned around in my arms, rubbing his eyes blearily. He gave me a sleepy smile and a soft peck on the lips. I grabbed my phone and sent him something.

_It's late._

His phone vibrated from inside the couch cushions and we both dug around until he found it.

**I should probably get home.**

I knew Alec lived alone but he and Jace were in the same apartment complex so he probably wanted to make sure he got home without killing anyone in the process. Alec and I got off our butts and stretched for a moment, yawning and stumbling to my front door where Alec got his Converse back on while I went to grab his coat.

Poor Chairman Meow didn't want Alec to leave and kept latching on to his pants leg as he was trying to get his shoes on, sinking his claws into the fabric and refusing to let go. I had to pry him off of Alec's leg just so he could get his shoes on. Alec stood up and took Chairman from my hands, stroking the soft fur in between his ears. The little cat turned into a purring mess and snuggled against his hand as Alec giggled.

He eventually set the cat down and moved into my arms instead, resting his head on my shoulder. I breathed in the clean yet piney smell that was Alec and sighed to myself, very much enjoying the feeling of holding him that close to me. He pulled away for a moment to get his phone out again.

**I'll see you tomorrow? **

_Of course. _

He smiled and gave me one last, very soft kiss, then bent down to give Chairman Meow a nice pat on the head as he left. Did I stare at his butt? Why yes, yes I did.

**A/N- Goddamnit, I'm proud of this chapter. I spent the majority of it naming things I/Magnus loved about Alec and it was damn cheesy but I loved it. You should review. A lot. Pretty please? I'm really excited to hear what you all thought about this chapter. And the next one will have something to do with **_**parents. **_**So be prepared.  
>Happy President's Day!<br>~Ella, who is glad there was no school today so she could get this chapter done ^_^**


	9. Nine Napkins

**A/N- I love you all so very much. And sorry if some of you clicked on chapter eight and it didn't show up, Fanfiction was being a total and complete bitch. Also, sorry for taking so long DX I was busy… and also sick. *shrugs* I don't have much else to say right here. **

**Oh, wait, yes I do. **

**Today's my mom's birthday. She's 45. I bought lace-up combat boots today. They were 45 dollars. Penises freak me out. Vaginas aren't that great either. I really like boobs though. They're just so nice. I've got boobs you know. Every election year is also a leap year. It's funny how we're a bunch of girls writing about boys. And none of us portray them quite right. Because we're not boys. But we like 'em. Well, most of us. I don't know… I'm really fucking tired. This author's note is too long. And now it's over.**

**Disclaimer- I own nothing. The usual. **

_You want me to meet your parents?_

My handwriting was messy and hastily written, as I was trying to talk to Alec but I had costumers shoving dollars in my face demanding beer and my cell was dead. As much as I liked Alec and wanted to spend time with him whenever I could, I could only multitask so fast. I'd called Simon and Ragnor for help but they had yet to show up and if one more goddamn person screamed at me for a cheap beer I was going to smash the bottle over their head and leave them to bleed to death on the floor.

I get violent when I'm in a hectic situation.

After I'd made an annoyingly complicated drink for some swanky, rich-ass blond with fake tits that probably cost more than the entire bar, I went back to where Alec was sitting on the opposite side, sitting there all gorgeous-like. He had already replied and was sipping at the beer I'd given to him for free if he promised not to tell.

**No. My parents want to meet you. I don't want you to. **

_Why is that?_

"Hello?" said the man behind the dollar bill being shoved in my face. "I've been asking for a beer for five minutes!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, sir," I said with mock concern. "It's such a shame that you had to spend five minutes of your already miserable life standing in a bar, holding a dollar bill, and saying nothing at all while expecting the bartenders to be mind-readers and hand you a sixty dollar beer on a silver platter." I snatched his dollar and slammed a beer down on the wooden bar in between us, not even bothering to open it or give him change. "Have a good day." The man glared at me but took the beer anyways and walked away. I looked down at the napkin.

**If you're too busy I can go. **

_No, it'll slow down in about an hour. Please don't go. _

**Let me know if I can do anything to help. **

_The fact that you're here being cute is helping. _

I had enough time to see him blush but after that I was running around too much to talk to him, though I occasionally caught him staring at me with his lips a little parted. It was so cute when he'd blush harder and bite his lip as he looked back down at his beer. Sometime in the night/morning we started up a silent staring contest type of game; I'd try to look away before he caught me and he'd try to look away before I caught him. We never locked eyes for more than a second but I was glad that it gave me an excuse to admire him for a while.

It must've been one-thirty by the time I looked over to Alec and he didn't look away, only gestured me over to him. Things had slowed down enough that I actually had time to talk to him and the first thing he did when I got there was take my hand in his. We both smiled at each other and we just kind of stayed there, not really saying anything until something came to my mind, making me let go of him so I could write it down.

_You said something about meeting your parents…_

**Yes, as soon as I said something about you they insisted on inviting you to dinner.**

_You don't want me to?_

**It's not that I don't want you to, but my parents are really embarrassing and still treat me like I'm six. **

_Everyone's parents do that. It's totally normal. _

**They're going to interrogate you. **

_It'll be fine. _

He just blew his bangs out of his eyes and looked up at me with a certain expression that made a giggle bubble out from my lips. He looked like he had given up on convincing me not to go but still didn't want me to which gave his face a boyish tint to it, in a way that reminded me of a teenager. It was incredibly cute.

After I'd finally convinced Alec that everything would be fine with his parents (even though I was more nervous about it than I was showing) we moved on to topics of lesser importance, like what games would be on that week. I honestly had no idea who he was talking about when he started going on about some team but I just agreed with whatever he said until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Jace had already locked everything besides the front door by the time Alec and I were on our way out. The blonde bartender gave him a quick (manly) hug and flashed the sign for "I love you" then nodded to me before walking out into the cold and very early morning. "I love you" was one of the few signs I knew, as I had seen it as the last sign they included in the alphabet when I'd gone onto Wikipedia to study the ones Alec had been teaching me. I spread my fingers underneath the table and put down my two middle ones, reveling in how much meaning was in a simple hand gesture. It was a lot to think about.

Alec tugged at my collar to get my attention and kissed me across the bar. I melted a little on the inside and of course kissed him back, frowning when he pulled away much too soon. He gave me a little innocent smile and we exchanged our goodbyes. I watched him as he left, like I always did. He had this bounce in his step, almost like he was dancing to his own beat as he was walking away. It was very cute, just like everything else he did.

I made the short trip home and snuggled up next to Chairman Meow in my bed, exhausted. My body felt heavy with sleepiness and my eyelids were drooping but my mind was buzzing all around with thoughts of love. I didn't know if I loved Alec per say, though there were definitely a lot of strong feelings between us… The last time I'd felt so strongly about someone was when I was dating Will.

Will had been my really serious boyfriend once upon a time and he was the first person I fell really hard for. We were together for a long time but things turned sour after it got _too_ serious; he wanted me to move in with him and when I didn't give him an immediate yes he started to question our relationship and lots of things went down that I'd tried to forget about. I guess I just wasn't ready for something that serious and I really didn't want to go down that road with Alec.

That's not to say that I didn't want a serious relationship with him, it's just that I was worried I wouldn't be ready again. Alec was all I wanted in a man, or even a person for that matter. He was sweet and genuine, without being too happy or annoying and he was such a strong person. There were little things he did that some people may find irritating but to me they were endearing… and always cute. So cute. The boy, _man_, had me wrapped around his finger and either had no clue or simply refused to take advantage of the fact.

There was definitely something special about him, something I couldn't quite place. It wasn't that he was deaf, which was entirely different; I was actually getting used to not speaking to him directly. It was the way he acted like he didn't even care about not being able to hear that kind of spoke to me. He didn't pull that card. 'I'm deaf, feel bad for me' was not something I could ever imagine him telling me or anyone else even in a playful matter. He was serious about it without being a douchebag. Alec being a douchebag was just ridiculous in my mind. There were so many things about him that I loved and it seemed like all I ever did was go on about Alec this and Alec that. I couldn't believe Camille had put up with me for that long when all I ever talked about was him…

And I was going to meet his parents on Sunday…

**A/N- that was a rather abrupt ending, but I have been working on this since my mother's birthday (February 28****th****) then I got sick (Bronchitis or possibly pneumonia) and THEN when I got back to school I had homework. OH THE EXCUSES. Yeah, I apologize for the delay and then the poop but next up is dinner with the parents. It will mostly center on Maryse and Robert, but you'll see bits of Izzy and Max in there. Jace probably won't be there but whatever. **

**Any requests for things you want to happen during dinner? I'm open to consider anything from funny one-liners to awkward conversations or even potential drama bombs. All you need to do is tell me in your review. THAT TOTALLY RHYMED!  
>~Ella, who is watching Gnomeo and Juliet! It's a great fucking movieWATCHITNOW!<strong>


	10. Ten Napkins

**A/N- Unggg, god this took so long! I apologize for the awful delay and I'm SO sorry. I really don't have an excuse for the tardiness; I was just busy with my nonexistent life. OH. GOOD NEWS. I now know two other bisexuals in mah school. Neither one of them is attractive in any way, shape, nor form, but it's nice to know. I guess…**

**Oh, and I don't have any fucking clue what color Max's eyes are/were so I'm just gonna make it up, kay?**

**Disclaimer- Me. Nothing. Owned. By. YEAH YODA!**

It wasn't until I was putting the directions Alec gave me into my GPS that I realized what exactly I was getting myself into. He had said before that his parents were really over-protective of him, especially since Chris came along and ruined his life. They were more than likely going to ask me many embarrassing, awkward questions that I wasn't going to want to answer. It's not like I could really blame them; their son was deaf and had been stepped on by way too many people who thought he was worthless.

My hands were shaking when I was entering the address on my Garmin. Why was I so nervous? Alec had given me a fair warning about how his parents were a little over-protective, but I was still worried that I'd make the wrong first impression or something. The worst case scenario would only be if I were to get a raging boner in front of Alec's parents and the odds of that happening were slim to none (unless Alec showed up sweaty and naked), so I should've been happy and confident, like I usually am. I'd had to endure a few irritating parents in my lifetime and nothing horrendously awful happened. It would be fine.

The Lightwood house near Manhattan was fucking _huge_. I knew Alec and his family was pretty well off –his parents were CEO's of some big company- but I wasn't expecting a mansion like that. It made me wonder why Alec had moved into a little apartment complex that was probably about one fifth of the entire house. I decided to save the question for another time and wiped my palms on my skinny jeans as I made my way to the large front door.

Alec answered the door, inadvertently giving me something to smile about. His hair was just as mussed up as usual but it looked like he had actually attempted to tame it that night. He gave me a big grin as he pulled me inside, planting his lips on mine for only a second.

The inside of his parents' house seemed almost bigger than the outside, with marble and granite everywhere, along with sculptures and paintings of things I wouldn't understand. Everything was sparkling clean and for a second I expected a butler to offer me an iced tea. It was all rather Victorian.

Alexander took my hand and offered to take me to the game room where his other siblings were and I thought _Holy shit, they've got a game room. _It was kind of weird to me, having never been in such a big house that wasn't turned into a museum before. I did want to meet his siblings though.

The game room was just as big as everything else in that house. There were three rows of black leather recliners and a large screen at the front of the room, which was showing a violent video game being played by two dark-haired teens in the front row. One of them was an older girl, looking like she was just out of college, with pitch black hair that cascaded down her back; if it were any longer she would be sitting on it. The other one was a boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen, who was basically a miniature Alec with glasses. He had the same color hair as Alec and the older girl but his eyes were a different shade and he had a very boyish look to his face, like he was still a child on the inside.

I'd actually heard them before I saw them, as the girl had been exclaiming random things when the boy started to beat her at whatever game they were playing. He remained pretty quiet but would occasionally tell her it was rude to curse at people. When Alec and I walked in, they both looked up at me for a second and went back to their game almost immediately. Within a few seconds there was a loud explosion and the boy triumphantly set down his controller while the girl flung hers onto another chair.

"So you're the new boyfriend, huh?" she asked, walking over to me with a grace I'd only seen in Camille before.

"Yeah, unless there's someone else I should know about."

She smiled and I knew I had won her over for the time being when she stuck out her hand for me to shake. "Izzy."

"Magnus." She had a very firm grip.

"Oh I know who you are." Izzy's eyes slid over to Alec for a moment, who was blushing again. "I like your shoes by the way."

Even though I had dressed considerably less _Magnus_ than usual, I'd still kept my designer shoes. "Jimmy _is_ the best," I said with a smile.

"Who's Jimmy?" said the young boy as he walked over to us.

"He's a designer," Izzy said with a smirk. "You wouldn't know him."

He just shrugged and held out his hand, having a strong hold like everyone else. "I'm Max." He paused for a moment and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "So are you gonna be an asshole like Chris?"

"Max!" Izzy exclaimed, smacking his arm.

"What?" he asked innocently. "I just want to make sure he's-"

"We'll just go now," Izzy said as she grabbed Max's arm. "See you during dinner!" She dragged Max out of the room and I could hear her quietly screaming at him in the hallway. I felt my phone vibrate in my not-as-tight-as-usual pants.

**Sorry about them. They never fail to embarrass me. **

_It's ok, they're just looking out for you._

**I guess you could call it that…**

He looked pretty embarrassed and I mentally _'Aww'_ed at him. He just looked like those sad puppy dogs that are always on commercials for animal abuse and I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him, pulling him close. His hair was a little damp so I figured he took a shower and breathed in his scent. He still smelled like the pine he always smelled like but it was more pronounced then. My nerves were slowly dissipating around him and for a moment I almost wondered why I was so nervous in the first place.

_Time to meet your parents?_

**Unfortunately. **

We linked our fingers together and he led the way to a room that was emitting some smell that made my mouth water. Maybe he had a personal chef along with a butler. It wouldn't be _that_ surprising what with the smell that was making my stomach growl.

Instead of a man with a curlicue mustache and a white chef hat, there was a tall woman wearing an apron in the kitchen, still somehow looking sophisticated even with flour on her cheek. She stood tall and confidently, adding spices to things and adding ingredients like she was a professional. Clearly she was Alec's mother and I could definitely see the resemblance throughout the whole family- it seemed like they all had different color blue eyes, yet they were all equally intense. Alec's were the best though.

She noticed us immediately and it made me think she was very aware of her surroundings, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. She greeted us happily, giving Alec a quick hug and shaking my hand much like Izzy had.

"You must be Magnus," she said with a smile. I nodded. "Well, we've certainly heard lots about you."

Maybe Alec's blush hadn't gone away from the exchange with his siblings or he'd caught what his mother said because his cheeks were turning pink again. We sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, silently and almost awkwardly watching his mother cook dinner.

"It smells delicious Mrs. Lightwood," I said quietly.

"Thank you," she said. "But you can just call me Maryse." She turned to Alec and started signing to him, while still speaking for me. "Alec, will you get your father and tell him dinner's almost ready? He's in the library."

I could tell Alec wanted to argue with her but all he did was give a small sigh and peck my cheek before going off in search of his father. As soon as he was out of sight my nerves reached their peak as I realized that Maryse had been watching me watching Alec rather intently. Obviously she had something to say.

"Magnus, I don't mean to 'interrogate' you, as Alec says," she started. "But I'm his mother; I need to know who my son is dating."

"Of course." I had a nice way of keeping my voice steady and my body language confident when I was freaking out on the inside. All you had to do was look at my sweaty hands to give me away though.

"Ever since Chris I didn't really think Alec would be dating so soon. I'm going to assume you know who Chris is, correct?" The way she was staring me down was making me feel like a teenager who just got caught doing drugs or something.

"Yes, I know who he is."

She sighed almost inaudibly. "I thought he was a nice young man before he turned out to be the exact opposite."

"That must've been hard to watch."

"It was." There was a small pause as Maryse took something out of the oven and then there was a strange change of topic. "How did you and Alexander meet, exactly?

"I own the bar where Jace works, Shattered Glass," I started and she nodded for me to continue. "One night I was actually about to leave and I saw this man who I'd never seen before walk in. He was so… quiet and shy and _beautiful _I just had to talk to him."

"Even after you figured out he was deaf?"

"To be honest it just made me want to talk to him even more."

"He certainly likes you," she said with a new smile. "It seems like you're the only thing he talks about now."

I had to contain the grin that threatened to take over my face when she told me that. Alec apparently really liked me and for some reason I was surprised by that. I figured that Alec would be the person to keep quiet about who he liked, but since we were officially a couple I guess it shouldn't have been that much of a shock. I'd heard from Jace, Izzy, and Maryse that he wouldn't shut up about me. It was a very nice feeling to have.

"And hopefully you two are being safe…?"

It took me a moment to realize what she was asking but if I had something to drop it would've been on the floor for sure. "Oh… oh! Uhm, no, we haven't uhm…" Damn my stuttering. "I'm waiting for him," I finished lamely. The amount of awkward in the room was close to choking me. I was talking about gay sex with my deaf boyfriend's mother while she cooked dinner… Fantastic.

"You're a very nice gentleman, Magnus," she said genuinely. "I think you'll be good for Alexander."

The Lightwoods had impeccable timing, as Alec and his father walked in just as Maryse turned back to the food. Alec's dad was tall like him, probably an inch or two above me, and stood with his back very straight like he had a long stick stuck up his ass.

We introduced ourselves and I found out that his name was Robert. It also seemed like the Lightwoods had a habit of shaking peoples' hands tightly enough to make them flinch, because I swear Robert damn near broke my hand. His eyes were harder than Alec's, or Maryse's for that matter; he was definitely staring me down. And I thought Alec's _mom_ was intimidating.

Dinner was going to be interesting.

**A/N- FINALLY! It took me so long to just fucking get this done and the only reason why I got past the first paragraph was because I was updating my Sims 3 game (which takes for fucking ever) and I didn't want to waste my Wi-Fi by being online all day. So thank slow game updates for this update. **

**I really want to get to 300 but that would be asking for 43 reviews which is just a little ridiculous so I'm happy with whatever you give me and I'll try to include any more ideas you guys come up with. **

**Happy Simming!**

**~Ella, who's game finished updating as soon as she finished this chapter. Coincidence? I think not. **


	11. Eleven Napkins

**A/N- I don't think I've ever really told you guys how important you are to me. Fanfiction is basically the last thing I have left –I'm not popular, not pretty, I can't swim, can't dance, I don't know karate, I can't play any instruments (well), I can't act, can't sing, no one really likes me at my school- and having even a handful of people tell me that I'm good at something and that they love my work is something I've never heard before. I don't really know how to react to it and it's weird for me, in a good way. During school I don't talk to anyone or chat with people. I think about my stories and how to make them better because I can't do anything else. You're all I've got. **

**Of course, then I realize I'm using someone else's characters and my self-esteem shoots down again. **

**I just wanted to tell you guys how often you make my day. I wake up in the morning, get my phone, and check my stories/reviews. Then as soon as I get on the bus to go home I do the same thing, and again when I'm about to go to sleep. It's one of the few things that keep me going. Without Fanfiction I'd have nothing to do on the weekends and nothing I'd be good at. It's really important to me and I'm actually a little hesitant to tell you guys this because I sound so… angsty no matter how I put it. I sound like a mopey teenager that doesn't know what else to do with her life and craves attention from just one person. Just one. **

**I really love you guys. **

**And now, for something less mopey teenager-y and more Malec-y happy…-y.**

**Disclaimer- fuck off. I don't own anything. **

The dinner Maryse made was absolutely delicious. It was some expensive cut of steak that was just mouthwatering and roasted red potatoes and this salad that was for some reason the greatest salad ever and I actually had to stop myself from ramming it all in my mouth and digging my face into everything. That's not the best thing to do when you're first meeting your boyfriend's parents, so I took an inconspicuous deep breath and paced myself throughout the meal in order to avoid strange looks and indigestion.

Their dining room table was really big but I could still see everyone around me. Max kept pushing his glasses up, Izzy kept grinning every time Alec and I so much as looked at each other, Maryse was keeping the conversation going, and Robert was sort of just looking at me with a weird glint in his eyes. And Alec… well Alec had kept quiet. His hands were too occupied with eating and the rest of him was too occupied with being embarrassed by his family to really say anything. His knee was mine though. My hand hadn't left his knee unless I needed it to shovel food into my mouth. Occasionally I'd pinch him with my thumb and forefinger, getting him right where it really tickled and making him jump a bit. He'd smack my hand away but I'd always put it right back where it needed to be. It was a cute little game to play during dinner.

Robert was starting to get scary, though. He was looking at me like I'd called his mother a bad name or something and I didn't have any idea what I did wrong. I was using my table manners, I wasn't sucking his son's face, I was answering all of the stupid questions they were asking me about where I lived, and if I had a steady job, and if I had any history of DUI's, yet he was sitting there, looking like he wanted to murder me. At one point I actually thought he was going to kill me when he reached for his steak knife, which was ridiculous, but can you really blame me?

He actually made me so nervous that I spilled a bunch of ice water on my crotch. Thankfully, Alec was the only one who saw and he slipped me a few napkins underneath the table. I was just happy that I hadn't been drinking something with color in it or, god forbid, the coffee I had been offered earlier. I'd rather have a cold wet crotch than a blazing hot wet crotch any day. It dried enough that you couldn't see it after a few minutes but I knew it would start to chafe because of the wet denim. A slew of curses went through my head.

Sometime during the night Alec's parents got on the topic of my own mother and father. When they asked me where my parents were I had to quietly and politely inform them that they had passed away a long time ago. That was something Alec and I hadn't touched on yet and I knew he'd caught the exchange when he looked at me with big eyes, slightly hurt. I didn't want to talk about my parents with anyone and I knew it would've taken me a long time to tell Alec about them, but the last thing I wanted was to have it brought up while we were having dinner with the rest of the Lightwoods. It was definitely something we were going to have to talk about later.

I thought he might give me the cold shoulder for the rest of the evening but all he did was take my hand in his, grasping it tightly as it rested on his leg. I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend at that moment; he didn't push the topic at the dinner table and I almost forgot about it. Almost.

Soon afterwards, all of the plates that had been filled with seconds and thirds were scraped clean and the conversation began to slow down in no time. I offered to help clean things up but Maryse said she'd let Alec and I have some 'privacy' for a little while as he took me on a small tour of the house. It was hard to feel like Alec and I could have a private moment when all I could think about was Robert and his scary eyes seeping into my soul.

Alec took my hand and first led to me to the library which was clear on the other side of the huge house. It was probably bigger than my entire apartment, with bookshelves built into all four walls and big mahogany desks in the center. It was very beautiful and clean, and it must've been Alec's favorite spot in the house because he loved to read so much.

He was examining one of the bookshelves, running his finger down the spine of a particularly old book and caressing it much like you would with something delicate, like a flower. I felt bad about the thing with my parents but I didn't really know what to say to him, so I just came up from behind and put my hands on his hips, placing my chin on his shoulder. He relaxed into my touch and removed his finger from the spine of the old book, resting his hand on my cheek instead. I kissed him near his jaw, behind his ear, and smiled at the little goose bumps that showed up there.

He pulled away from me and held out his hand for me to take, leaving the library at a faster pace. I'd wanted to stand there and cuddle him for a little longer but I was kind of excited to see where he was taking me. We ended up in an elevator I hadn't noticed before that took us up a couple floors and I was pulled down a wide hallway to a small room that was hardly decorated.

There was a bed in the corner along with a small bookshelf that was completely full and a lounge chair. The bedside tables had almost nothing on them, save for a picture or two of the other Lightwoods, and the walls were a very light shade of blue that may be mistaken for off white if you looked at it too fast.

_This is your room?_

**It was. **

Alec sat down on the edge of his gray bed and I joined him, looking around some more. They say that your room is a reflection of your personality, and for the most part that was true with Alec and his room but he wasn't all just monotone colors and books, he had his quirks. So where were they in his bedroom?

_Has it always been this bare? Or did you take everything down when you moved?_

**It's not bare. You just haven't looked hard enough. **

Alec got off the bed to move to his bedside table where he rifled through a few drawers only to come back to me with a sketchbook in his hands. It was completely filled with drawings of things ranging from flowers and random plants to a lazy looking gray cat and even a few people. The ones at the beginning were pretty good but as you got farther into the book you could tell that the sketches were getting better, and by the end they were oddly realistic. It was impressive to say the least.

As he was flipping through the book, Alec suddenly stopped and ripped out a random picture, crumbling it up and tossing it on the floor. I barely got to look at it before Alec tore it out, but I knew enough to realize it was an old drawing of Chris. Anger flared up inside me, not towards Alec for having the drawing, but towards Chris for breaking the heart of an angel like Alexander.

I chose to ignore the crumpled Chris drawing on the floor and flipped through the sketchbook instead, pausing when something caught my eye. It was a drawing of a rose, really close up; I could see every little detail. The shading was beautiful and the flower looked like it was at the peak of perfection, it had probably died a few days later. Alec's name was signed in the corner in loopy cursive letters.

**You can keep this one if you want.**

_Really?_

**Sure, I've got all of these photocopied on my laptop anyway.**

He tore out the sketch and folded it into neat fourths, handing it to me so I could fit it in my pocket. It was such a talentedly drawn photo that I was considering framing it but that may have been because it would be the only thing in my house that was any proof of Alec ever being there.

I hadn't had the chance to kiss Alec at all that day, not _really_, and he was there sitting on the edge of his bed, with his head slightly tilted to the side and his bottom lip between his teeth. It had been hard to keep myself contained when we were with his parents, and earlier I had thought I wouldn't be able to have a moment with him knowing his dad was lurking around but right then I finally had him alone… in his room… on his bed.

I gently took the sketchbook from him and set it on his bed sheets, placing my lips on his in a millisecond. Kissing Alec after not being able to for so long was like craving chocolate all day and then finally getting it right when you're about to give up hope. Alec's lips were as soft as they always were and his tongue was pretty smooth, too. In no time he had me wrapped around his finger (rather, his tongue) without really knowing it like he always did.

My hand was on his thigh and he was playing with my hair, which I'd left down. Soon we fell into our usual rhythm in which he led our lips and I led our bodies; it was a nice systematic way of making out with my boyfriend. I started pushing back a little and he followed me, ending up with me half on top of him on his bed.

We'd never made out on a bed before, we were usually on my couch, but my intentions were most certainly not to jump his bones right there. I'd meant it when I told Maryse I was waiting for him; I wasn't even going to try anything along those lines until Alec gave me permission. Sure I'd taken a lot more cold showers than I cared to admit but it was worth it. At least, it _would _be.

Alec's tongue was dominating my mouth and I was just letting him because he was doing it so well. I almost felt like a rebellious teenager; I was kissing my boyfriend in his parents' house where they could walk in at any moment. The only problem was that his dad scared the living shit out of me and if _he _found us I would either die of fright or because he murdered me.

Once my jaw started to cramp up and all I could taste was Alec, we collected ourselves and went back downstairs so I could say goodbye to everyone else. Alec's hair was more messed up than usual and I tried to pat it down when we were in the elevator, to no avail. His hair had no hope, but it was very sexy if you ask me. Pair messy hair with wet, swollen lips and you get me, almost spontaneously combusting at the sight of my boyfriend. He didn't even realize how sexy/beautiful he was.

I said goodbye to everyone in the same order I met them- First Izzy who actually gave me a hug, then Max who was acting a bit more gentlemanly, and Maryse who gave me leftovers to take home, and finally Robert who just shook my hand and told me I was a very polite man. He confused me greatly, first starting off with cold stares and silence, then ending with an almost smile and a compliment. Maybe he had an epiphany when I was off lip locking with his son…

Alec took me outside on his front step after I'd said goodbye to everyone and gave me a long hug, then brought up something I'd hoped he'd forgotten when we were in his room.

**Will you tell me about your parents one day?**

_Come by the bar tomorrow and we can talk about it._

**Okay.**

He kissed me very softly and pulled me closer to him by my belt loops, his thumbs grazing the exposed skin near my jeans. It felt like someone was watching us, I could feel someone's eyes on me, and when I cracked my eye open I saw Izzy dart away from the nearby window. I didn't acknowledge her and just kissed Alec harder, enjoying the way his lips tasted. It was a little difficult to hold a Tupperware container of leftovers and kiss my boyfriend at the same time so I had to pull away before I really wanted to, but seeing Alec's flushed face was almost better than kissing him.

**Goodnight.**

_Goodnight gorgeous. _

**A/N- Alright, I don't usually do this because I hear it annoys people and I've tried to refrain from doing this for the whole story but *gets down on knees* CAN I PLEASE GET TO 300 REVIEWS? PLEASE? For the last two chapters you guys haven't been reviewing as much as usual and I'm worried I'm doing something wrong. Am I doing something wrong? I mean, I updated faster this time… I'm actually proud of updating the very next day because I'm usually too tied up but last night around one in the morning I started getting really creative and now I've got the next three chapters in my mind. So uh, yeah, 300 would be SOOOOOO fantastic. I… I would love you guys so much, even more than I already do. PLEASE.  
>~Ella, who is about to watch the season finale of the Walking Dead!<strong>


	12. Twelve Napkins

**A/N- Oh, you guys! Can I just cry for a second? I'm just gonna cry for a second. *cries for a second*I woke up this morning and checked my phone and I had all of these fantastic reviews and I just cried my eyes out for a few minutes like **_**I did it. I'm finally good at something. And I have proof!**_** And I was in such a good mood all day and I wore my combat boots and I was singing around like the loser I am and I just… I don't even know, but I love you guys so much and I trust you all and some of you are really close to me and now I've got this strange confidence about me. Today in English, we were told we had to write a modernized version of A Midsummer Night's Dream and now I'm almost finished because I was pretty much shitting out creativity as a result of your reviews! *ugly cries* I'm being such a baby right now but I haven't been happy in a long time and it's a rather strange feeling. **

**Fanfiction is being a little bitch and it's saying that my hits haven't moved since chapter ten -_- that's clearly impossible because I've got proof that at least 38 people read the last chapter. FANFICTION. Y U NO WORK?**

**Disclaimer- No matter how happy I am I'll never own the Mortal Instruments series. **

The next morning I was in an incredibly anti-Magnus mood; I wasn't put together, I had mini bags under my eyes, I was hungry, gross, and all around pissed off. It'd all started with my hair. My alarm clock had decided to be a shit that morning and didn't go off until I was supposed to be at work in twenty minutes so I didn't have any time to shower, therefore making my hair unable to go into the spikey, perfect state I usually had time to put it in. As a last ditch effort, I just pulled it back but I'd gotten it cut and it kept falling out into my eyes.

Some asshole cut me off on the highway and had the balls so flick _me _off when I was just trying to get to work, so that certainly didn't help. Then the next thing I knew, I was caught in the middle of a huge traffic jam that made me even later than before, and when I finally got to work neither Camille nor Jace were even there yet. Once Jace finally showed up, he was in such a happy mood that it didn't rub off on me, it just counteracted everything and made me more grumpy.

"Sorry I'm late," he said flippantly. "There's a big jam on the interstate."

"There always is," I grumbled, watching as he slid behind the bar and started getting things ready for the onslaught of costumers that was sure to show up. He turned his golden eyes to look at me and tilted his head. Camille strolled in almost silently, her heels clicking on the hard floor.

"Hey, you're hair looks less gay like that," Jace said to me, flicking my ponytail. I smacked his hand away. "You almost look like Johnny Depp."

"Mm."

"What's the matter with you?" he asked with a smirk. "Is it that time of the month?"

I didn't bother commenting on the fact that I was just gay, not a woman. "No, Jace."

"Well you're being a little bitch."

I knew I was acting like a moody teenager, but in my aforementioned moody state of mind, I refused to believe such a thing. "No I'm not."

Camille was walking behind us and decided to add in her two cents. "Yes you are."

"I'm just in a bad mood, okay?" I snapped at both of them, causing immediate silence.

Camille raised her eyebrows and clicked away to the other side of the bar to where her station was, but Jace leaned in a little closer to me and almost looked concerned. "Are you and Alec fighting?" His voice was quieter than it had been before, though it didn't help to calm me down in the least.

"_No._"

"Alright, sorry I asked." The golden boy walked away then and I would've felt bad if I wasn't being such a 'little bitch.'

The rest of the night and early morning went on much like that, with me being irritable and moody, not interacting with costumers like I usually did, and being an all-around asshole. The underlying cause of my awful mood was the fact that my parents had been brought up the night before and, although the topic hardly affected me anymore, it still upset me to even think about, especially when I was close to telling my boyfriend of one month all about it.

Alec definitely deserved to know about what happened to them, but I didn't really want to tell anyone. It'd taken a long time just for me to tell Will and Camille… In retrospect, I may have been blowing the whole thing out of proportion, but I always got pity from anyone I told and that's not what I wanted. It happened so long ago that I'd gotten the pitiful looks and shoulder pats I'd wanted and then I just preferred people to leave it alone, forget it happened. _I_ even forgot it happened sometimes.

Though I was dreading having to explain anything to him, as soon as I saw Alec my mood brightened, if only a little. He gave me a very sweet, chaste kiss and it was so nice to know that we weren't receiving any looks or derogatory calls from anyone around us. They were too busy drinking. However, Jace was looking at us from across the bar, an amused look on his face. I wanted to know what was so funny to him but I left it alone.

Alec sat down in his usual spot as I took care of a few straggling costumers before I brought him to the back room. It was pretty nicely decorated, with a big enough TV, vending machine, futon, the usual things you'd find in the back room of a local bar. I flicked the television on mostly for the distraction but Alec got right to the point.

**You really don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable. **

_No, you deserve to know. _

We both took a seat on the futon and I bit my lip, hesitating before beginning the long spiel that had to do with my parents. I was close to not telling him at all and just giving up.

_They didn't want me, you know. I was their mistake. _

It was kind of a long story and I didn't go into details very much; I sort of just typed away at my phone while Alec sat there patiently, watching my fingers move.

I explained to him how my parents were never really my 'parents.' They were just people who lived in my house and occasionally fed me so they wouldn't get busted for child neglect. Sometimes I'd come home from school and there'd be no one else in the house, and it would stay that way for days at a time. My dad would be gone for months and would come back for a while, usually drunk, just to slap us around. They were both under the impression that everything was my fault but my mom got knocked up at seventeen and it went from there.

Once I got home after school and no one was there so I figured they were going to be out for a while… but then I looked around a little harder and found that my mother had hung herself in our barn. I called the police because even though she was never the mom everyone else had, she was closer to me than my father was, by just enough to matter. Unfortunately, my dad showed up, completely hammered, and of course blamed it on me. In his drunken state, he tried to drown me in the pond but the police were already there about my mom and they took him down.

I didn't have some immense fear of water, or barns; I'd gone through the years of hell following that and survived everything. I went through my foster homes and my therapy sessions and my mental breakdowns, but I was a stronger person because of it. It was almost like Alec and being deaf- he didn't want pity or worthlessness, he _was_ strong, after all.

I watched Alexander's face the entire time he was reading my ridiculously long message and saw the way his eyes started sparkling more and more throughout the text. He was close to tears when he looked up at me and quite frankly, so was I. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to tell him but it still hurt somewhere deep inside me to live it all over again.

**Magnus, I'm so sorry.**

That's what I was expecting. That's what I always got when I told someone. A sorry, a pitiful glance, it was simply human nature to do that.

Alec leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my neck, pulling my body flush against his. I welcomed the warmth from him and let myself relax in his arms; I'd been pretty tense when he was reading it for fear of something I wasn't totally sure of.

**Thank you for telling me. **

_I trust you._

He kissed me on my cheekbone, right underneath my eye, and I didn't realize I had been crying until Alec's lips came away slightly wet. Using the sleeve of his worn out hoodie, he wiped away the other few tears I'd actually let fall. Crying in front of him felt weird, I didn't like crying, but he was being very genuine and sincere, just like I thought he would.

I didn't have any makeup that I needed to fix and Jace said he had everything under control, so Alec and I got comfortable on the futon and I almost smiled when he put the TV on What Not To Wear, turning the subtitles on.

**Izzy threatened to put me on this show one time. **

_But you look so cute in your sweaters…_

**She doesn't think so.**

I chuckled a little and felt better after a few minutes of cuddling with Alec on the couch, listening to the fashion don'ts on the TV show while he read them. Maybe I didn't know it right then, but I was pretty sure I loved him, at least in that moment. I told him something not many people knew about me, something that made me cry in front of him, and within minutes he had me almost forgetting about it and _giggling_. All he had to do was be himself and I felt better. I wanted to do the same thing for him one day.

It was sometime around two in the morning that we fell asleep after I threw a blanket over us and turned the volume on the TV down a little. Thoughts of going home, feeding Chairman, leaving at all were lost to me and taken over by Alec. The back room was cold and having a gorgeous, _warm_, boyfriend to snuggle up against me was very welcoming.

I guess we were both sleepier than we thought we were because by the time we woke up it was almost afternoon. Jace had come into work early and found us asleep on the couch, with a blanket pulled up so far you couldn't tell if we had clothes on. It was only natural that he freaked out.

"_Magnus, what the hell?"_ he shouted, causing me to jump awake. Because I jumped, Alec jumped, and we both sprang up from the couch, confused and bleary-eyed.

"Jace, calm down," I started.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he interrupted. "You said you wouldn't do this."

I had to tell him that we just fell asleep multiple times before he actually calmed down and told us that if he ever caught us back her again he was going to skin me alive. Alec was flushed, probably with embarrassment, but I could also tell that he was trying not to laugh by the way he was biting his lip.

I'm sure we would all laugh about it later. Maybe.

**A/N- Man, angst is not my thing today. Innocent was literally ALL angst and then this story is really sweet so it's weird doing angst again, na mean? I hope Magnus' (angsty) parents' story was alright, it was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be to come up with. It was also really hard to display any emotion whatsoever because I'm a heartless person and I'm pretty sure if I knew someone who told me that story I'd be like "bummer." Uh, yeah, I'm an awful person when it comes to sympathy. **

**Hey reviews would be great. I'm really looking forward to what you guys have to say, even if it's a simple 'love it' or 'fuck you' I'll appreciate it. Though some elaboration would be nice… *hint hint***

**~Ella, who wants some cheese. QUESO! **

**P.S. - three chapters in three days FUCK YEAH! I'VE GOT MY GROOVE BACK! Bow chicka bow wow. **


	13. Thirteen Napkins

**A/N- MY GROOVE HAS BEEN THROWN OFF! DAMN YOU GUITAR LESSONS! DAMN. YOU. Anyways, I looooved all of your reviews and I want to eat them in hopes that they'll make me lovable. BUT ALAS! I digress. Okay, so I got a lot of mixed reviews about the angst so I'm just gonna go ahead and say that I personally didn't like it but if you guys thought it would do then I guess I'm all good xD I guess. Ha. **

**I might skip forward in this chapter, I really haven't decided yet. Again, I write these notes before I actually start writing the chapter. Is that weird? No…**

**OMG! So earlier I was trying to type waist and I accidentally typed wasit! AHAHAHA! WASIT! WASIT! XD XD XD XD XD XD**

**THE THOUGHT PUT INTO THESE CHAPTER TITLES!**

**Disclaimer- ALACK ALACAKACKACKACKACK! I OWNETH NOTHING-ETH!**

After telling him about my parents, I trusted Alec a little bit more with those personal things, just enough to make a difference in our relationship. He was helping me learn more simple signs, and I was even considering taking a class for it, or at least buying a book about signing. I finally friended him on Facebook, changing my relationship status the same day and earning many comments that just included 'AW!' or 'He's cute! ;)' Alec also started coming over more often, not to makeout, but simply to talk to me, and I finally got to see his apartment a few weeks later as we neared our two month anniversary.

It was a lot more decorated than his room in his parents' house had been; there were actually things up on his walls, mostly pictures he'd drawn. His place was about the same size as mine, give or take, and it felt very cozy there, like everything was squished together while still having a certain place in his home. I just wanted to cuddle up on the couch with a latte and laze the day away and the first thing I did when I walked in was take a deep breath.

_Your house smells exactly like you._

**What do I smell like?**

_Pine and the occasional citrus. _

He smiled and pulled me closer to him, burying his nose in the curve of my neck as his arms found their familiar place around my waist.

**Well, you smell like vanilla. **

_We make a good combination. _

Alexander showed me around a bit and I marveled at how cleanly messy his room was. He didn't have any clothes on the floor, I could see them all neatly hung in his closet, but his desk was cluttered with different papers surrounding a laptop. I could see all of the drawings he'd made on his dark desk along with some pictures of his family and I recognized the one of him and his sister on the beach. After he pointed out the bathroom and various exits, Alec pulled me over to the couch and turned the TV to What Not to Wear.

**This show is my guilty pleasure. **

_I wouldn't know that by looking at you. _

**I may not have the best sense of style but I know what looks bad on other people. Except for you. Nothing looks bad on you. **

In response, I kissed his cheek and watched as he became silently engulfed in the fashion he didn't understand. While sort of just staring at him, I realized how feminine Alec was. It wasn't that he was girly or flamboyantly gay, but he was graceful in a way that most women were and he had such long eyelashes that they made the rest of his face seem younger. Sometimes I felt like I looked (stared) at him for too long, but how could I not?

He caught me a few times and leaned up to kiss me, which worked well with the way he was sitting; in between my legs with his head resting against my chest. I occasionally played with his hair, enjoying how soft it was while also trying to get some of the tangles out. I wasn't even paying attention to the show anymore, Alec was more fun to watch anyways and everything was great, even though we weren't doing much. I just liked to be around him.

It was close to being April and daylight savings time was kicking everyone's ass, so the sun didn't start to go down until almost eight. I could see the sunset shining from the glass door that led to the fire escape and wanted so badly to go outside and look at it. It was beautiful as it was but I couldn't help imagining what it would look like with Alec standing in front of it.

_Let's go outside. _

**Why?**

I didn't answer and just yanked him off the couch, letting the blanket that had been covering us fall to the floor in a heap. There was a small bench sitting innocently on the fire escape and I dragged Alec over to it, getting there just in time to see almost a rainbow of colors in the sky, the top one starting to turn a dark blue-purple.

_That's why._

**I've been here for years and never once came out to see the sunset.**

_There's a first time for everything._

It was just warm enough outside that we could be comfortable with only each other to hold and I'd never really had the chance to simply _be_ with someone. There was always something we had to be doing whether it was talking or kissing or having sex, I could never just lay down with someone and be perfectly happy with it. That's what it meant to really love someone and I wondered if I should tell Alexander that I loved him. Even through all of the boyfriends and occasional girlfriends that I had, I hadn't ever told anyone I loved them before; I was saving that for someone special. Yeah I told Camille before but she was more like my crazy, busty aunt than my girlfriend.

Maybe it was too early to tell him… We were hardly two months into our relationship and didn't that mean that we were still in the honeymoon phase? It's not that I didn't _love_ him, I was pretty sure about that part, but I was afraid I'd ruin it if I told him right then. Alexander had been really hurt by his last asshole boyfriend and even though he told me he was over him, I still had my doubts.

I'd been so caught up in my thoughts that I almost missed the ending of the sunset, but I got to see the golden orb sink down into the horizon, letting the moon rest in its place. Alec was practically laying on me again and I welcomed the way his body curled into mine as we watched the stars begin to show up. If I looked away for even a few seconds and looked back, at least five more stars appeared. The moon wasn't all the way up yet, but I could tell it was pretty close to being full that night.

It started getting chilly out, even with the warmth from Alec's body, and I had to let him go so I could retrieve our blanket. I was back in no time and wrapped the cozy fabric around us, placing my head in Alec's lap as comfortably as I could. My heart was beating a little too fast for some reason and I bet Alec could feel it too.

**The stars are so amazing tonight. **

_I don't know, I'm looking at something a little better. _

Alec looked down at me with a blush spread across his cheeks. He was starting to get used to my compliments and terms of endearment, but I still had the power to make his skin heat up. He looked so cute with the light reflected by the moon glinting in his eyes and on his hair. I lifted up my hand to cup his cheek and smiled when he covered it with his own hand. He closed his eyes, making me long to see them again. I tried to get him to open them again by tracing my finger on his cheekbone underneath his eye and going near his eyebrow. The deep blue orbs finally appeared, piercing my own eyes.

I sat up and slung my arm over Alec's shoulder, pressing my lips to his in an instant. The feeling in my stomach, right behind my bellybutton, felt like it was pulling me towards him even more than usual and I couldn't seem get close enough. If I could have paused that moment and stayed there forever, I would've been completely at ease.

We pulled away to look at each other then something inside me just clicked into place, and I felt different, _happy._ I kissed him again but this time when we pulled away I held up the oddly simple sign for 'I love you' in front of him.

Alec sort of looked at it for a moment, and in that moment my heart stopped then sped up all at the same time. It may have been half a second, or twenty minutes, my sense of time was gone, but then Alec smiled, making the sign and pressing his hand against mine. We uncurled each other's fingers to link them together, leaning forward to kiss again and I thought _the heart palpitations were worth it. _

**A/N- THIS CHAPTER IS MUCH TOO SHORT, I KNOW! It was hard to be inspired because it was kind of a filler but also relatively important O.o oh, sorry for posting so late at night, I wanted to get this up so bad ^_^ Review, review, review, I've finally dropped the L-bomb. No, not lesbian. LOVE! So review pretty please with a Malec lemon on top that is coming very soon!  
>~Ella, who wants some ice cream DX<strong>


	14. Fourteen Napkins

**A/N- AH! I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS, thanks, thanks, thanks, blah, blah, blah, Ella, Ella, Ella. OKAY NOW WE CAN GET TO MY POINT! I received a very helpful anonymous review and before you're all "OMG ELLA'S GONNA FLIP OUT ON US!" I'm not. I was going to reply to this person but… anonymous… you know. **

**Okay Ms. (I'm going to assume you're a girl, sorry if I'm totally wrong) LovinDeafAlec, your timing is oddly perfect. I was literally going to talk about all the sign language and Alec talking thing and get into more details about ASL within the next few chapters… Are you a mind-reader? A psychic? BOTH? Anywhozles, I totes apprecizzle your review, and again your timing is impeccable. Sometimes I need someone to remind me of things like that, just to keep the story more realistic but uh… I know what I'm doing. That sounded bitchy and somewhat conceited, but when it comes to Fanfiction I can be a conceited bitch and how else was I supposed to put it? Hm. SO. IN CONCLUSION- Thanks. I like-a you. I like-a reviews. I've gotta-a plan…-a.**

**If the majority of you have no fucking idea what I'm saying, go look at my reviews. YOU SHALL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!**

**Disclaimer- Me. Own. Nothing. RAH!**

Some people may think that falling in love with someone you could only communicate with via texting would be difficult, but for Alec and me it was almost effortless. It wasn't his fault he couldn't hear me and it was never something that really bothered me; sometimes I almost didn't notice it. But it was still an issue and though Alec couldn't do anything about it, I could.

It was the night I finally told Alec I loved him, when I was laying in my bed with too much time to think, that I realized I needed to make more of an effort in our relationship. I was almost being selfish just letting Alec text me all the time and not even bothering to learn more than the alphabet in sign language. That was the least I could do and yet I was sitting there doing nothing. If I really loved him, I would try harder, and I did love him, more than I loved anyone else.

I had never really loved or been loved by someone as strongly as Alec before. My parents didn't love me, and if they did they didn't show it. They abused me, neglected me, and ignored me so I'd hardly say I loved them at all. Will hadn't exactly loved me either; I think he was more infatuated with me and I didn't return his pseudo love anyways. Alec though… Alec was someone I truly loved, even if I'd just realized it. It was almost weird trying to decipher love from the infatuation I'd felt with Will, but I definitely loved Alec. I wasn't sure how to react to it or if it would change things, though I hoped it would just get better from there.

I longed to see him that night. I'd give almost anything to just be next to him for a little while longer, but I wasn't about to go all Bella-crazy and start trying to kill myself so he'd show up… All I wanted to do was get my arms around him and smell him and kiss him like I always did. It would have been so fantastic just to have him next to me… in my bed. I suddenly wondered what Alec looked like naked and sweaty, panting. I bet he had abs and a big-

_No, _I thought, feeling all of my blood rush to my other head. _No, no, no. Don't turn this into something sexual._ _You love him; this isn't about sex. _

To be completely honest, I hadn't even thought about having sex with Alec until just then, while I was lying in my bed at one in the morning with a boner that wasn't going away anytime soon. To me, our relationship wasn't all about getting him naked and jumping his bones, I actually wanted to spend normal time with him, but could anyone really blame me? I'd held off from thinking about it for two months, except for the three minutes in between when I saw him and when I talked to him.

Groaning, I flipped over in hopes that I'd become less hot and bothered and more cold and tired. But no. It just wasn't going to go away. I tried to get my mind off of a naked, sweaty Alec by humming a song to distract myself. Unfortunately, the first song I thought of was by Adam Lambert which really just made things worse. All I wanted to do, besides hold Alec, was go to sleep and have a hopefully dry dream about him.

I buried my face in my cool pillow and tried to think of something not cute he did, but failed epically. There wasn't anything I could think of that he did that I didn't find adorable or endearing. Even when I saw him out running near Central Park and stopped to say hi, he still smelled like piney citrus over his sweat. I can't even smell good when I'm working out but Alec can.

Needless to say, I had a very sleepless night.

Immediately the next day, after a long cold shower and brunch, I called the community center that was near Manhattan, asking them if they offered a sign language class. The man I'd originally been talking to transferred me over to a woman who explained to me that there was a class I could take every Tuesday and Thursday in the morning and an optional one Sunday afternoon. When I asked if there were any requirements she said "You just need to have hands." I decided I liked her. The sessions were in the morning for about an hour so I could still make it to work on time and they were a lot more affordable than I thought. Things were just in my favor that day.

I got to work a little earlier that morning because Jace let me off the night before so I could hang out with Alec, which I was very grateful for. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find both of them there already. Jace was unlocking things and turning the ceiling fans on while Alec was cleaning some glasses. I figured they had just gotten there. Alec was actually the first person to notice me, and he speed walked over to me, kissing me very chastely while Jace gagged in my direction. I couldn't exactly be lovey dovey with Alexander while Jace was there but simply having that tiny kiss was enough to keep me satisfied for a few hours.

Even though it was getting warmer outside, Alec was still wearing his dark jeans, hoodies, and the occasional sweater; he was even wearing dark gray fingerless gloves. If his outfit had been transferred to someone who was heavy and a lot less attractive, they would've looked like a hobo, but on Alec it just looked sexy. Maybe it was because he really didn't care how he looked so it made him seem hotter, or he was just all-around adorable, but either way he could work the hobo look.

Throughout the day not many people came by and even though things picked up around eleven, it was a rather slow day in general. The best thing that happened the entire night was when I was leaning over my iPad, cursing at it and wondering why the hell it wasn't working. Then, out of fucking nowhere, Alec walked by me and very casually brushed his hand across my ass on purpose. I didn't jump or tackle him to the ground and tear his clothes off, there were costumers around, but I did give him a half surprised half turned on glance. All he did was smile at me, the cute bastard…

One of our regulars was there though and J.D. always brought good company with him. He ordered a bunch of appletinies, and though they were pretty girly drinks, he was drunk by the end of the night. His girlfriend had to drive him home so he left his scooter outside and I had to make sure no one stole it. It was an interesting night to say the least but I was used to it. I _did_ work at a bar.

Things had slowed down after a few hours so Alec and I got to talk for a little while and I tried to convince him to let me take him shopping.

**Why do you want to take me shopping so badly? **

_I want to buy you something that'll make your eyes pop._

**Sometimes I think you only love me for my eyes…**

_No, I love you for a bunch of different reasons- your hair, your skin, your lips, your giggle, your kissing skills, your sense of humor, your personality, do I need to go on?_

He was blushing when he replied, and I added the image to the mental photo diary I had of him with red cheeks.

**No, I believe you.**

_So you'll let me take you shopping then?_

**It depends on where you want to take me.**

_Hot Topic?_

**Hell no. Izzy tries to drag me there every other week and she never succeeds in buying me anything.**

_Fine, what about Kohl's?_

**No.**

_Sears?_

**No.**

_Target?_

**No.**

_Wal-Mart?_

**No.**

_Well, if you don't agree to let me take you out then I'm just going to drag you into my closet and make you try on everything in there, as well as make you model all of the brightly colored outfits for me and the Chairman. You don't want that, do you?_

**No…**

_Then come to the outlet mall with me?_

**Alright fine, but not too many bright colors, okay? **

_You got it, gorgeous. I can pick you up tomorrow after lunch, maybe around one o'clock?_

I would have scheduled our date/fashion therapy session for earlier, but the next day was Tuesday and I had to go to my sign language class, which I kept to myself. My plan was to go for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, then surprise Alec with something romantic and explain how I learned sign language to him _in _sign language. It would be hard to keep it from him, but it was all for the greater good of our relationship.

**Sure. **

_Now I'm excited. _

**I'm a little scared.**

I chuckled at the slightly horrified look on his face.

_There's no need to be scared; I'm not going to dress you up so you look like me or anything like that. I just want to get you to wear something nice so everyone else can see how beautiful you are. _

**You're not going to force me into tight jeans, or slather my face with makeup?**

_No._

**Alright, I trust you. **

_Yay. _

**But if someone tries to sell me something neon I'm not going to be happy. **

_I promise there will be no neon involved_**.**

**Thank you.**

_You're welcome._

I took a quick look around, saw that there was no one else there and figured Camille and Jace were drinking in the back room, so I set my phone down and moved my attention to Alexander. The longing I'd felt the night before had gone away a bit, maybe because Alec had been there with me all day, but if anything I still wanted to kiss him… badly. He read my mind in a millisecond and gently pressed his lips to mine, letting me silently sigh in relief. I was acting like such a teenager around him but I couldn't help myself.

We were standing up, with Alec leaning against the dark wood of the bar, the perfect position for making out. It didn't really matter what position we were in though; Alec was such I good kisser it's not like I really cared. He was working his lip/tongue magic without being too gross or sloppy and I was just letting him turn my knees to jelly when I heard a high-pitched "Aw!"

I reluctantly let go of Alec's lips to see who was spying on us and found Camille, grinning a lot like Jace did. Alec looked up when I pulled away and I saw him turn five shades darker than usual in the corner of my eye. She winked and scurried back to wherever she'd been before right as Alec yawned.

_Am I that bad of a kisser?_

**No, I'm just worn out and I didn't even do much. I don't know how you do this every night.**

_Years of practice. _

He yawned again and I chuckled at the way he looked like a tired kitten.

_Go home and get some rest; I'll see you tomorrow. _

**Well, if you insist. Goodnight. **

_Goodnight. _

We both signed 'I love you' to each other and kissed one last time, giving me the perfect moment to get back at him for earlier. I casually pinched his ass through his jeans and felt very satisfied with myself when he jumped, blushing. He tried to hide his grin, failed, and resorted to playfully smacking me on the arm instead. I watched him leave and smiled to myself at the way he was walking kind of funny.

**A/N- Okay, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! There's gonna be more ASL soon (duh) so I don't want to be all 'And then he signed this so I signed this and then we laughed HAHAHAHA!' That's just irritating, so when people are signing, instead of quotation marks, it'll be more like apostrophes. For example- **

'**I like pie.'**

'**I like pie as well.'**

**Easy to understand? Or would you rather keep with the italics/bold words when Alec and Magnus are signing? Example-**

'_Hello gorgeous.'_

'**Hello Magnus.'**

**Which is better you guys? Come on now, this is actually important to the story, I don't want people to be confused. **

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW NOW!**

**I mean… please review? Pretty please? OH AND MALEC LEMONS ARE GOING TO SHOW UP IN LESS THAN FIVE CHAPTERS! WHOOP WHOOP!**

**~Ella, whose parents are being buttholes. **


	15. Fifteen Napkins

**A/N- Holy fracking shite you guys. I was kind of sick last night so I went to bed early with 387 reviews and was promptly woken up around three because I couldn't sleep (stuffy nose) and had 405! That's some crazy shit you guys! Man, I was like excited then and kind of couldn't fall asleep after that…**

**Also, I'm researching day in and day out about ASL, how it works, what the grammar is like, and I even found a way to write down the signs O.o I'm not sure why I'm surprised by that, it's like any other language, but I wasn't aware you could actually write down signs… it's like Braille but for deaf people! OH OH OH, guess what else? I found a website with 100 common signs. THANK YOU GOOGLE! It's kind of funny because I'm going to be telling you the other things I learned by using Magnus' ASL class. WOOHOO! I'M ABOUT TO LEARN YA'LL!**

**I got my teeths cleaneded today :D**

**Disclaimer- I literally own nothing but the mother trucking plot. ASL ain't mine, Magnus ain't mine, Alec ain't mine… Shattered Glass is mine, but nothing else is -_-**

Learning ASL was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought, and I figured it was going to be pretty hard anyways. Of course I'd done my research, so I had a general idea of what I'd gotten myself into, but I also knew it was going to take time, like it would if I was learning Spanish or something.

Tuesday morning I was actually awake before noon so I could make it to my class on time while still maintaining my fabulousness. I was wearing an outfit that I'd worn before, which isn't something I usually did, but I was saving my perfect clothes for later, when I was with Alec. The date and session were scheduled perfectly so I had just the right amount of time to get home, fix my hair, eat something that resembled food and be at Alec's apartment on time.

When I arrived at the community center twenty minutes earlier than I had originally planned, it was nice to know that I didn't waste my valuable time meeting other people taking the class, but instead filling out useless papers about my health, address, preexisting conditions, and so on. By the time I was done filling out the unnecessary papers, there were only five minutes left until the class started, so I made my way to the room it was in, which the receptionist told me was right down the hall.

There were a few people already in the room, none of them looking over the age of 30, and a kind looking woman walked over to me. She seemed very soft-spoken and was probably 25 years old.

"Hello, you must be Magnus," she said quietly and I nodded. "I spoke with you on the phone, right?"

"Yes, and I made sure to bring my hands with me." I even painted my nails a nice shade of lime green. I figured that if I was going to be signing something I might as well make my hands look nice.

She laughed with a broad smile. "That's good to hear," she said. "I'm Ms. Rivers but I tell everyone to call me Ms. Laura."

"That's a lovely name." Yeah, I was putting the charm on and I could tell it was working by the way she was smiling at me. First impressions were always important.

"Oh, you're going to be a great addition here," she said genuinely. "The class hasn't been around for very long so you haven't missed much, but I'll go over some things today; just in case."

"I really appreciate it."

"So Magnus, why did you decide to start learning ASL?"

"My boyfriend is deaf," I said nonchalantly. "It would just make a lot of things easier."

"That's sweet," she said. "Well let's begin, shall we?"

Ms. Laura moved to the front of the room and everyone got into a small circle, with me following suit. She explained that I was new and went over a few things. "First and foremost, ASL, or American Sign Language, has a strange syntax to it, like any other language. By the time this course is over you're going to sound like Yoda." That made me smile, along with some other people. "Also, prepositional phrases don't exist here, along with certain words. For example, if you wanted to say 'I went to church with my husband' and used the exact signed words, it would translate into 'I past go church with my boy-marriage.' And I don't know about you, but that doesn't make any sense to me."

She went on to explain that learning the alphabet first would be the most helpful thing to do when trying to learn ASL. Thankfully, I already had that down and was hardly listening when she went over them, only paying attention to the ones I weren't completely sure of. The rest of the session was spent learning common signs, going over the alphabet, and having an occasional daydream about something cute Alec did. I learned more in that day than I had over weeks of random Google searches, and I stored it into my mind for when I planned to surprise him. Ms. Laura was pretty fucking cool, and I liked the hands-on way she taught. The rest of the class seemed to like her too and I thanked her many times over before leaving to go back home so I could fix my hair/outfit.

I knew Alec liked it when I kept my hair down, so I straightened it and went to work on my makeup instead, trying to highlight my eyes as much as possible without looking like a drag queen. My outfit was already picked out, I'd gotten it together the night before, so I had a gay moment and turned my radio on the pop station while I got everything together, creating a wild, colorful montage.

"Oh baby will you honk the night?" I sang along with Shakira, making my voice nasally like hers. "My hips don't lie and you know that I'm so fly. Well those aren't the lyrics, but I can't understand this bitch with the nice hips." Screw correct lyrics; it's not like anyone knew what she was saying anyways.

Once my eyes were sparkling and my lips had just enough watermelon gloss on them to look kissable, I turned to Chairman, who was lying on my bed, and asked him what he thought. He just tilted his head to the side and blinked, but he didn't hiss or hack up a hairball so I accepted it as an enthusiastic 'You look _fabulous_!' and went to get my date clothes on.

The final ensemble was rather bright, consisting of my lime green nails, high-top Converse, and open, short-sleeved button-down shirt with a white tank top underneath along with white skinny jeans that made my butt look divine. Conceited or not, I knew I looked good and hopefully Alec would like it too.

* * *

><p>I held another up shirt against Alec's delicate frame and watched him wrinkle his nose, signing the word 'bad.' It was one of the few I really knew, along with its opposite 'good' but he really didn't have to sign them for me. I could tell what he thought just by the look on his face. Even though I really liked the shirt I picked out for him, maybe it was too over the top or something, so I hung it back up and let him choose a different one.<p>

We hadn't been in the mall for very long, yet I was beginning to feel like it was almost hopeless. As much as I liked Alec's hoodies, tattered jeans, and fingerless gloves, it wouldn't hurt him to try on something that made him look even better than he already did, but almost everything I tried to get him to wear he ended up hating. All I was trying to do was enhance his already enthralling beauty so everyone else would get to see how great he looked while I got to say 'He's mine.' Was that too much to ask?

Alec came back to me a moment later, holding something that was either dark gray or light black or dirty white. I couldn't tell.

_No shades, darling. Color only._

**Why?**

_Do I need to go on about your eyes again?_

He sighed, shaking his head, and I frowned. I was torturing him, I could tell, and I still hadn't found a nice middle ground that satisfied my need to make his eyes light up and his need to feel comfortable in his own skin. It was a challenge I was willing to take on, so I grabbed his hand, determined, and led him to a row of blue shirts. I would find something that made both of us happy if it was the last thing I did.

While I was wondering whether dark blue, light blue, or blue-green would look on the best on him, I felt Alec slip his soft hand into mine. I welcomed the feeling and used it to pull him closer to me, still trying to find him a nice shirt. I finally found one that was the exact shade of light blue that flowed into Alec's eyes when I told him I loved him and held it up. The pale man actually nodded and, my god, he smiled a real smile that I quickly returned, draping the shirt on my forearm for him to try on later. There were a few other good ones in that row, and I even found a black patterned one that was acceptable.

All of the ones I picked out Alexander agreed to try on, except for the one he found glitter on. That may or may not have been because I was trying to trick him into wearing it, just to see what it looked like; no I don't know why he even got that idea in the first place, silly boy.

I made him try them on in a certain order, going from my least favorite to my favorite so the anticipation built up. It wasn't surprising to find out that he looked good in all of the shirts and the few jeans we agreed on, but when he got to my ultimate favorite I may have died from containing a boner. The jeans were dark and more fitted than what he usually wore, and the dark blue, long-sleeved shirt had a hood on it. The shirt was just tight enough to be sexy without it looking like he was trying too hard, and his eyes absolutely blazed with something I hadn't really seen before- He was confident.

**I really like this one. **

_So do I. _

The way he blushed when my eyes raked over him made me inwardly smile at his adorable awkwardness.

We spent the rest of our time at the mall debating what accessories went with Alec's outfits, eventually deciding that less is more and giving him simple chains to wear around his neck instead of something too flashy. When it came time to pay, however, Alec argued that I took on quite a challenge and certainly didn't need to pay for it. I countered him by saying that it was worth it because I got to look at him in his glorious new outfits but he didn't let it go until we concluded that it would be best to go half and half. He was such a gentleman about it.

It was about five o'clock by the time I dropped Alec off at his apartment. Of course, I walked him to the front door and gave him a _very_ long kiss goodbye. I was going to go to the bar to see if Jace and Camille needed any help after that, but then Alec invited me inside and all thoughts of leaving were utterly destroyed. Alexander had a way of alluring me without knowing it himself, and the sweet, innocent look in his eyes made various parts of my body stop working correctly, including my legs, brain, and heart.

I followed him inside and up to his apartment, where he insisted on making me dinner to thank me for dealing with such a 'fashion disaster' as he called it. He let me watch him cook us a spaghetti dinner and I felt oddly warm and fuzzy, like I'd just read a multitude of cheesy romance novels. Alec was so cute, letting me taste the sauce he was using and smiling lopsidedly at me the whole time. He really didn't have to cook if he didn't want to, and I told him that, but he insisted and who was I to tell him no?

We had a lovely, quiet, TV-lit dinner with the occasional spaghetti sauce kiss here and there, and whatever he put in that sauce was _delicious_. Alec actually asked me if it was okay, as if the image of me scarfing it down wasn't enough to tell him that yes, it was okay, more than okay. I snuggled up next to him on his couch after we'd both finished eating, letting my body melt into his like it always did.

In no time, I'd captured his lips in mine in a way that our goodnight kiss hadn't satisfied, and sighed against his mouth. There was nothing I could think of doing that was better than kissing Alexander Lightwood, in his house, after he made me dinner. If that's not a good day, then I don't know what is.

We kissed for a long while and then just sat there talking for even longer. We talked about what it was like for him when he came out his last year of highschool-

**It wasn't awful, just weird. First I was the deaf kid, and then I was the deaf gay kid. **

We talked about how cats ruled.

_Chairman Meow is so great. He's like a little me, only cuter and furry. _

We talked about how gay marriage being illegal was completely ridiculous.

**Haven't we already been over this with black people? Conservatives need to get over themselves.**

_I know, and besides, what's the worst that could happen?_

**I heard someone say that if everyone legalized gay marriage it would be like allowing people to marry dogs. **

_That doesn't even make sense. _

**Exactly.**

We talked about whether avocados were fruits or vegetables.

**They have a pit, like peaches, why would they be vegetables?**

_They're green. _

**Grapes are green. So are limes. And apples. **

_But cucumbers are green and they're vegetables. _

**Magnus, cucumbers are fruits. **

_No way._

**I'm going to Google it. **

We talked about our ancestors.

**My family actually goes back to England. **

_Really? So does mine…_

**Hopefully we aren't distant cousins or something. **

_That would ruin everything. Good thing we don't look anything alike. _

**We're pretty much opposites.**

We talked about nothing but still managed to cover most of the things we wanted to know about each other. I loved talking to him as much as I loved kissing him, even more if you could believe that. For someone who was so introverted, Alec was a really interesting person with such a strong personality that I was surprised no one else had snagged him yet. I was glad I'd gotten to him first though.

It was starting to get late, close to midnight, when I suggested that I go home and I was about to get my things when Alec tugged me back towards him, biting his lip. He had something he wanted to say and looked nervous, much different from the confidence he had earlier.

**Will you stay tonight?**

**A/N- Not much of a cliffhanger… but I might tease you guys in the next chapter with either a half-lemon or a bunch of sweetness. I really haven't decided, but your reviews will help me out right? Oh, and the author's note at the top is from eleven days ago -_- It's kind of funny that I don't change my first author's notes ever. It's some superstition I have…  
>So yeah, review like there's no tomorrow people, because you never know… there may not be.<br>REVIEW!  
>~Ella, who has a stuffy nose still :'(<strong>


	16. Sixteen Napkins

**A/N- Hey, Ella here. I wanted to thank all of ya'll for the fucking amazing reviews I got. One or two of you said something along the lines of 'There needs to be a conflict no matter how much I love the fluff.' And I agree completely but I think you guys overlooked something- ****Alec cannot hear.**** As much as that's hardly a problem now, it'll probably come in later and there may be some other drama-bombs, I'm not sure yet, because I wanted this story to be so much sweet fluffiness that people started getting cavities so problems were not on my mind. I think I'm succeeding so far, though some conflict would be nice. Damn. You're right.**

**In other news, a super awesome, mega talented, piece of perfection decided to draw a picture for this story and put it up on DeviantART. Her name be Jinx-Blood (MaybeADeatheater on DeviantART) and the picture is fucking awesome. No one has ever drawn art for one of my stories before and that's when you fucking know people like it. It shouldn't be that hard to find on the website (Fanfiction doesn't let links go through on stories and I don't feel like putting all the spaces) all you need to do is search 'Malec' and make sure it's sorted by most popular and you'll find it on the first page. Yeah that's right. It's that fucking good. Or I guess you could go talk to Jinx-Blood…**

**Frank Iero had a baby, well his wife did, on April 6 and they named him Miles. That was going to be my name but then I popped out and had a vagina. My parents were devastated. **

**Disclaimer- Even though my fucking long-ass author's notes look important and official, I'm a nobody, therefore, I own fucking nothing. Fuck. **

_Stay? _I thought, slightly confused. My mind was buzzing with a bunch of questions like _Why does he want me to stay? What'll happen if I stay here? What'll happen if I don't? Why is this such a big deal to me?_ All of these thoughts were going through my head in a matter of seconds, much less coherent than they seemed to be, all while Alec's hand remained on my wrist and his big doe eyes stared right at me. Eventually I nodded and slid back onto the couch next to him where he wound his arms around me, though his body seemed tense.

_What made you want me to stay all of a sudden?_

**Whenever you leave I try to go to sleep but just end up missing you.**

I just grasped his hand and kissed his knuckles, smiling up at him while he blushed. I could tell he was a little nervous, and to be honest so was I, though I wasn't completely sure why. It's not that I was worried that something would happen- If so, great; If not, oh well- it's just that I was concerned about Alec. Chris really hurt him and, although I didn't know the whole story, from what I was told it was a really bad breakup. I just wanted him to feel comfortable around me, not pressured.

Some show was on the TV in front of us, something about zombies and dead people. I wasn't fond of it, nor did I really want to watch it, but Alec liked it so I took the half hour to think about some things. And by think, I mean look at Alec. I gushed about how cute he was all the time, and Camille was thoroughly annoyed with me about it, but every time I looked at him I saw something different, especially in his eyes. This time, they were darker than usual because he was tense, but I noticed a lot that when we were around each other for a long time they got a little violet around his pupils. And sometimes when he was tired they'd get cloudy, maybe a tiny bit gray. Of course, whenever I complimented him those deep blue orbs would brighten, though I almost never got to see that happen because he'd tilt his head down and blush.

**You're staring at me again. **

_You're just so interesting to look at._

**I've never thought of myself like that before. **

_Well next time you've got the chance, look in the mirror until you see all of the amazing things I do when I look at you. _

**What if I can't?**

_Then I'll just explain all of them to you until you can._

He smiled halfheartedly and accepted my small kiss, the corners of his mouth lifting a little bit more. We watched the rest of the gross zombie show until Alec suggested we start getting ready for bed. When he pulled me by my hand to go to his bedroom, I noticed that his palms were unusually sweaty. He had nothing to be nervous or scared about…

Alexander let me borrow a pair of his sweatpants and I was so tempted to put them on in front of him, just to see what he would do, but the likeliest reaction would be death by blushing, so I went to his bathroom instead. I stared at myself in his mirror for a while, trying to flatten out my hair a bit more. I didn't bother taking my makeup off, I didn't have that much on to begin with, so it wasn't like I'd get it all over his pillow.

When I came out of his bathroom, Alexander had changed as well, into black bottoms and a looser shirt. He was standing in front of the mirror above his dresser, running a hand through his mussed up hair and looking into the infinite depths of his reflection, trying to see what I did.

I snuck up behind him and placed my hands on his hips, kissing his neck when he jumped. We were looking at each other in the mirror and I saw his eyes twinkle as they took on the violet shade I'd been waiting to see.

* * *

><p>I didn't push Alec into anything that night; I didn't even try to gently persuade him. That wasn't my intention, and I was totally content to just go along with whatever he was comfortable with. If that meant lying next to him for the rest of the night, painfully hard and uncomfortable, then I would just deal with it. At that moment however, at one in the morning, we were sitting on his bed playing Scrabble, completely clothed. And he was kicking my ass.<p>

He was either really lucky or a boss at scrabble, but he was coming up with words like '_enzyme'_ and '_grouses' _and '_binary'_ while I had amazing words such as '_cat' _and '_pie' _and of course '_to.' _How he came up with such long, ass-kicking words was beyond me, but he was clearly winning no matter what I played. Either I was majorly shitty at Scrabble or he was a wizard.

Right after Alec had spelled out _'quilt' _I used his U to play _'cute.' _He grinned and poured out the bag of tiles, not caring about rules anymore and putting _'perfect' _on the board. I went along with the little game he was inventing and we went on to spell out lots of fantastic words- _stunning, sexy, flawless, adorable, lovely, radiant, _and_ beautiful. _Alec even used a sideways V and a backwards E to make a heart, spelling out _Alec (hearts) Magnus_. I chuckled and leaned across our fucked up Scrabble board to connect our lips.

It was inevitable that we ran out of letters by two thirty so I helped Alec put all of the tiles back in the bag. I wasn't that tired, though I knew I should've been, but I snuggled into his comfy bed anyways, opening my arms for him to crawl into after he clicked the lights off. Alec had become much more comfortable with me throughout the rest of the night, especially after I reassured him that I was willing to wait as long as he needed me to. He'd blushed his poor little head off but thanked me nonetheless.

He lied down so he was facing me and pressed his forehead to mine, our noses lightly touching and our arms around each other. Alec's breathing was matching up with mine yet I could still feel his heart beating faster than normal. Kissing him like there was no tomorrow probably wasn't the best way to help calm him down but I did it anyway, slipping my tongue into his mouth before he had time to react.

He didn't push me away, just melted into me, so I took the initiative to pull him closer to me. I sighed into his mouth, loving the way his lips made my heart flutter and letting my hands roam free. They slid underneath his shirt and up his torso, sliding across what felt a lot like a six pack of hard abs. I could feel his abdomen tighten and I glided my hand around his waist to the small of his back, even dipping down to cup his butt for a moment. There was still no resistance from Alec, which somewhat surprised me, but I didn't go any further than that; I simply kept my hands in place for a while.

The little noise he made that drove me crazy reached my ears and I pressed my body even closer to his. Alec's hands were under my shirt too, and I was close to ripping his off, if only to see the undoubtedly flawless skin beneath it. I promised him I would wait, I wouldn't push him into doing anything he wasn't comfortable with, and it seemed to me that I was pushing our barrier a little too far.

I painfully pulled away from him and stared into his eyes, trying to find any bit of fear. There was the smallest bit of apprehension but it was enough to make me realize that tonight wasn't the night, as sweet and sensual as it had been. I just took a deep breath and told Alec I loved him, smiling a bit when he returned the sign. He turned around so his back was towards me and I tried my best to sleep with my heart beating too fast.

**A/N- Eh… *shudders* I'm so nervous about writing a lemon. They are literally the one thing I can't write that well… Hopefully this chapter isn't as shitty as I'm making it out to be and I'm just being paranoid.  
>I had an epiphany today- I kind of have a crush on my best friend. My best friend is a girl. Who kind of has a serious boyfriend. <strong>

**Yay my life is so ridiculous it deserves a young adult novel. **

**~Ella, who says REVIEW OR YOU DIE. **


	17. Seventeen Napkins

**A/N- WAHHHH I GOT FIVE HUNDRED REVIEWS WITHOUT EVEN ASKING! *PARTY DANCE HAPPY FUN TIMES (of doom)* I love you guys. *goes around and gives each and every one of you a warm hug, even though I hate hugs* Ya'll rule! RULE I TELL YOU, RULE! **

**I also totes apprecizzle the advice I got from you all. Instead of going to my friends, my mother, or my counselor, I went to my Fanfiction readers. This just shows you how much I trust human beings I actually know. Ahahahahahahahahaha…**

**Disclaimer- Meh, I own nothing. **

I used to think the best thing in the world was chocolate, which quickly changed into glitter after I hit adolescence. Then I went through phases in which different boys were the best thing in the world, including Adam Lambert and Adam Levine. Next came fashion and trench coats, and of course jewelry. But the next morning I knew for a fact that the ultimate best thing in the world was waking up next to the love of my life and seeing him still asleep, with his hands firmly in place on top of mine. If heart attacks were brought on by loving someone too much, then I would be a goner.

No one was there to interrupt us, or yell at us for getting it on when nothing happened. Neither one of us had to go home, or go to work, or do much of anything for the time being. If I really wanted to, I could stay there and watch him sleep for as long as I felt like it, without something or someone making me stop. Alec was right when he said I looked at him a lot, but it's not like I could really help myself.

In some ways, I wanted Alec to wake up so I could see those beautiful blue eyes of his, but I knew that once he woke up he'd want to get up and do something; that was just his nature. I, however, would rather lie in his bed all day and do nothing. For the time being, I just memorized the details of his face and how soft it looked when he was asleep. Everyone looked prettier when they were asleep, and Alec was gorgeous on a bad day, so you could only imagine the amount of beauty that was assaulting my mind.

Soon his eyes fluttered open and I saw them register everything around him, including me. He smiled a few seconds later, and it reached his deep blue eyes, making them brighten considerably. I leaned down to kiss the apples of his rosy cheeks and watched them grow even redder, ruffling around in the sheets for our phones. It was moments like that when I really wished I knew more ASL, because something about having to find our phones just to say a sweet good morning ruined the moment for me. Alec didn't seem to mind, but I was ready to do something about it.

_What do you want for breakfast?_

**It's a little late for breakfast…**

I took a look at the time on my phone and realized it was almost noon. Why was it that we always slept for so long?

_What about lunch?_

**Let me brush my teeth and we can see what I have.**

I watched him go off to his bathroom and stayed in his bed, smiling to myself for no reason whatsoever. Alec came out two minutes later and said he had an extra toothbrush for me to use. I was very thankful for that because it's really gross to French kiss someone when you have insane morning breath…

We both switched back into our jeans, mine ultra-skinny and his black. We were about to go to his kitchen to find some food when Alec saw me shiver in his oddly cold room. I had been used to the nice warmth of his bed and now that I was back in my t-shirt I was freezing my arms off. He searched through his dresser and pulled out a zip-up hoodie I could wear.

**It's too small for me anyways. **

'Too small' for Alec wasn't tight enough for me, but it was a nice plain black and I liked the way it made my arms look so I wore it around his house. It smelled like him.

Our lunch was simply leftover spaghetti and I must say that it was even better the second time, if that was possible. We pulled a Lady and the Tramp and shared one big plate of it, though no one was there to play us nice music and we weren't in an alley behind a restaurant. We managed to get the long spaghetti noodle after I had endlessly tried for twenty minutes and we connected our lips, with sauce in between us. When I rolled the last meatball towards Alec, he just cut it in half and shared it with me.

As much as I would have loved to stay at Alec's house all day, after lunch I had to go to the bar to make sure Jace and Camille didn't destroy anything.

_Sorry darling, but I've got to go to work._

Alec nodded disdainfully and pulled me by the collar of his own sweatshirt, kissing me passionately. His lips were telling me to stay, and his tongue was making a convincing argument as well, but I really had to go. I pulled away from him with a frown and watched as he hastily typed something on his phone.

**Thank you for staying over… I'm sorry nothing really happened.**

_That doesn't matter to me. I got to spend 24 hours with you and that's all I really wanted. _

Alec smiled and looked up at me, even though he was blushing like always.

**Go to work Magnus. **

'_I love you.'_

'**I love you.'**

* * *

><p>Jace was at the bar when I got there, which really surprised me because during the week he almost always showed up late, and I was early anyways. He was positively buoyant, cleaning things swiftly and humming to himself. How odd. I didn't know what was up with him but I wasn't exactly complaining. This new, more gay-friendly Jace was someone I could definitely get used to.<p>

"Hey, why are you here so early?" I asked, sliding behind the bar like always.

He shrugged and grinned. "If you want me to leave, just say so."

"No, you're actually working."

I decided to push the boundary a little more, just to see how good of a mood he was in, and hopped on top of the worn bar, knocking over a stack of coasters. He calmly picked them up, _smiling_.

"Oh, my girlfriend's coming over later, so don't embarrass me," he added.

"Embarrass you?" I repeated, swinging my legs back and forth. "How would I embarrass you?"

"I don't know, just don't do it." He was still smiling. This girlfriend of his must've been hot. "And why didn't you show up last night? I though you said you were going to come by after you left Alec's house and Camille left early. I had to call Simon."

"What's wrong with Simon?"

"I hate Simon."

I should've lied and said that by the time I left, it was too late for me to make much of a difference at the bar. I could've said that I was too tired or Alec drove me home and I didn't want to bother him, but pushing Jace's buttons was too much fun. "Oh, I ended up spending the night at Alec's."

His giddy little grin was gone in a millisecond and I though _oh shit._ "What."

I held my hands up in a defensive way. "Before you get all 'big brother' on me, nothing happened." He was still glaring at me. "I swear on my life, no, I swear on my _dick_, nothing happened. We slept, that's it."

"Good," he said firmly, getting happy again. Maybe the new girlfriend was making him more bipolar than a better person.

I tilted my head at him. "Why are you so interested in my sex life?" I asked innocently.

"It's not yours I'm interested in, it's Alec's." He looked up at me quickly. "That kind of came out wrong."

"Elaborate for me." I sat back against a column and looked at him, curious.

"I don't know, Alec's just… he's so… _Alec_. And Chris was such an asshole that everyone's really protective of him now." Jace scratched his temple and glanced at me. He needed to be careful, his heart was showing. "Look, even though we've been working together for I'm not sure how long, I don't know you personally, and I just want to make sure Alec isn't more heartbroken by you. I think you're a good guy and all, but I initially thought Chris was a good guy too, and you know how well that turned out."

"Everyone is making out Chris to be this awful person-"

"Because he is."

I sighed silently. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but did Chris do something else to Alec?"

"What do you mean?" Jace's eyebrows were raised and he looked apprehensive about something, I wasn't sure.

"Like… illegal?"

"I have no idea what you're trying to ask here," he said, annoyed.

"Sexually did Chris hurt Alexander?" I finally spit out.

That caught him off guard and I saw him blink a couple of times, mouth slightly open. "How would I know, Magnus?" he said. "If that's something you need to know then you should ask Alec, not me."

"Sorry I asked…"

"I just don't think Alec would be happy with me telling you all of these things about him without his consent," he explained slowly. I couldn't tell if I had angered him or just peeved him off a little.

"So he _did_ hurt him."

"I don't know."

I blew hair out of my face and flipped the hood of Alec's jacket over my head, because I fucking could. It probably looked awesome. "One last question," I said quietly.

"Dear god…"

"Do you really think I'm a good guy? For Alec I mean."

He paused and refused to meet my eye for a moment. "You're better than Chris…"

"So is a pile of dog shit."

"I think you're a pretty good guy," he said slowly. "Alec is a lot happier with you in his life and you helped him out with that problem he has where he always dresses like a homeless person. He seems to really love you, and anyone who makes Alec happier than Chris did is a good guy to me."

"Aw, Jace, you actually care! You've got a real heart, and when you get down to it, it's like you're a nougat-y candy bar with a hard exterior. You may seem like a Crunch Bar but you're really a fluffy Three Musketeers-"

"Shut up!" He threw a cleaning rag at me and sort of pouted. "Don't tell anyone I said that shit or I'll kick your ass."

I just laughed at him. "Don't worry, I'd never out you as a big teddy bear."

"Damn straight." He paused. "Oh and Magnus?"

"Hm?"

"Get the fuck off the bar."

**A/N- I put these Magnus-Jace interactions in here to get a hang of Jace and add some much needed humor, and I think they turn out pretty well. Hm, not much else to say today except that it's Gerard Way's birthday. CAN YOU BELIEVE HE IS FUCKING 35 YEARS OLD? The answer- No, he doesn't look a day over 27. **

**Not sure what the fuck I'm doing with Chris hurting Alec but I definitely want to add something else in there to make Chris even **_**MORE **_**of a farking arsehole. YEAH!**

**OH HEY YOU ALL BETTER FUCKING REVIEW EVEN THOUGH I REALLY CAN'T YELL AT YOU TO REVIEW BECAUSE YOU GAVE ME 500 WITHOUT ME REALLY ASKING SO thanks for that, review if you can, thanks. **

**~Ella, who has GOT TO STOP USING CAPS LOCK WHENEVER SHE FEELS LIKE IT!**


	18. Eighteen Napkins

**A/N- I am SO fucking sorry you guys, I just had a lot of shit to deal with recently but everything's better now and I'm fourteen and I'm going to go to a dance with my friends in a couple weeks so yeah. Nothing too extreme really happened, I was just so fucking stressed and had literally no time. But everything is fine and I'm ready to Fanfiction. **

**In other news, I realized that Clary is a really bullshit name and it makes my veins fill with cyanide, acid, venom, and various other poisons that I would love to unleash unto her until the redheaded demon perishes and is nevermore. May she kindly burn in hell for all of eternity and everything after that. **

**Fuck Clary, I hope she dies in the next book…  
>She and Jace better not reproduce. That's that last thing the shadowhunters need…<br>Thanks for the reviews. **

**Disclaimer- Own nothing, fuck off, die, etc., etc., etc.**

I was hoping that Alec would be able to stop by that evening, even though I'd spent a good twenty-four hours with him, but he texted me around nine saying that he had a shitty headache and was just going to go to bed early. Alexander absolutely _despised _having a headache, or being sick at all. It reminded him of the illness that took his hearing away and whenever his immune system was being lazy, all he'd want to do was sleep.

_Oh, I'm sorry baby :( I hope you feel better. _

**Thanks Magnus, goodnight.**

_Goodnight, love you. _

**Love you more. **

I was kind of bummed out that I wouldn't get to cuddle him until the next day, though I'd rather have him be healthy and happy than sick and tired.

For the rest of the night, I sort of milled around and chatted with some of our regular customers, occasionally sneaking a beer from behind me. It's not like anything could stop me from doing that, I did own the place after all. The night continued pretty usually, that is until a short redhead asked for a fruity drink that was hardly ever ordered. From the description Jace had given me –short, curly red hair, freckles, nice boobs –the girl must've been Clary.

As I was handing her the cherry drink, she asked if Jace was here and I knew it was her. Even though he told me not to embarrass him, I decided to have a little fun with her.

"Yeah, he's here," I said, glancing over to my right where he was showing off for different alcoholics. "Are you his sister or something?"

She smiled shyly. "No, I'm his girlfriend, Clary."

I bugged out my eyes dramatically, thanking my highschool theatre group in my head. "_Girlfriend?_" I repeated. "Jace never told me he had a girlfriend too!"

"What?"

"You know, maybe he swings both ways or something, because I've only ever heard about his boyfriend…" I quietly fake pondered to myself.

This Clary character was either extremely gullible or I was just a damn good actor because she look confused yet was still listening to me. "Who do you mean?"

"Well, I've only met him a few times, but he said his name was Alec. Maybe you know him?"

Her face was turning red and her eyebrows were being pretty friendly with her hairline. "That's not possible, Jace told me they were _brothers_."

"He told me the same thing, but then I caught them kissing in our back room."

"I don't-"

"Clary," I said, my façade cracking and a smile appearing on my face. "I'm just pulling your peach, Jace is crazy about you and you only."

"Oh." She breathed out a sigh of relief. "That's good. You're a really good liar…"

"I'd like to think about it as _acting_ more than _lying_." She smiled softly. "I'm Magnus by the way."

As we started talking, I realized Clary was kind of like Alec, if you really thought about it. She was quiet and shy, didn't dress as well as other girls her age, but still had a natural beauty about her that was hard to miss. When she said she liked to draw, I was convinced that she was girl Alec, minus the deafness. I guess Jace and I sort of had the same taste in people.

"My boyfriend _loves _to draw," I said with a smile. "One time he drew my eye with a dry-erase marker and it was spot on."

"What's his name?" she asked kindly. "I might know him from an art class or something."

"Oh, I'm actually dating Alec!" How could I have forgotten to mention that very important detail? Maybe it's because he wasn't there at the moment or I was engulfed in whatever Clary was saying. She had a way with words.

"Really? I didn't know…" She paused for a moment. "I just didn't know he was gay."

"He's a little less obvious than I am," I said quietly. "Keeps to himself a lot."

"He's deaf right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but how do you deal with that? Relationships are hard as it is and I was just wondering how you two make it work."

"Well sometimes I don't even notice he can't hear, but other times it's hard to manage." I thought for a moment, thinking about all the time Alec and I had been spending with each other lately. "I've never heard him complain about it once though… he's such a strong person and you'd really like him if you got to know him. Maybe one day you two can get together and draw something."

Clary laughed, short and high-pitched but awfully cute. Jace didn't usually fall for simple girls like her; he's more into the scantily clad ones that put out easily. Clary had a sort of girl next door look to her with that touch of inner artist. She dressed like she was somewhat trying but also didn't care and hardly wore any makeup. Like I said before- female Alec.

"I've only met him once or twice," she said, snapping me back into reality. "He just shook my hand and disappeared somewhere."

"Next time you see him bring a pen and a notepad," I explained. "You'll definitely get to know him more."

"Can't he talk?"

"I… don't know." The topic had never come up between Alec and I before but I added it to my mental list of questions for him and put it at the very top, right above my questions about Chris.

The semi-awkward moment was broken when Jace came basically barreling across the bar and wrapped his arms around the short redhead, almost lifting her off the ground. There was a lot of affection put into that, more than I'd ever seen Jace give to anyone besides Alec, and that was only sometimes. He put his girlfriend down and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips, smiling with her.

"I didn't know you were here already," he said, panting from running or kissing, I wasn't sure which. "Why didn't you come find me? I almost punched some guy in the face when he was eyeing you from across the bar."

"Sorry," she said. Her cheeks were starting to turn pink, maybe from embarrassment. "Magnus and I were just talking."

Jace's smile dropped and his head snapped towards me. "What did you say to her?"

"Oh nothing," I sang, grinning. "I only told her that you're a registered sex-offender, leader of a Dungeons and Dragons club, explained how you have a creepily sexual relationship with your step bother, and on the weekends you put on your best undies to go pole dancing at the gay strip club downtown. Just the facts, Jace."

"I hate you," he grumbled as he put a protective arm around Clary's shoulder.

"At least I made you sound interesting."

Clary waved to me as she and Jace went back to his side of the bar and the rest of my night was uneventful. Clary was a very nice girl, nicer than the ones I usually saw Jace with, and I was hoping that she would be a good influence on him.

* * *

><p>At my ASL class the next day, we went over the same things we had on Tuesday, along with learning some more words that would show up in everyday life. Ms. Laura said something that day that caught my attention- "Facial expression is important in sign language. Most especially the eyebrows. If you're not sure if someone is asking a question or not, look at their eyebrows."<p>

The more I thought about it the truer it seemed to be. When I went over the few times I'd seen Alec sign in my head, I realized how true that was. He used his eyebrows a lot when he was signing and I made a note to look at his face more than his hands next time.

I hadn't heard from him since the night before when he said he was going to be early, and I knew for a fact that when I was sick my heart was always warmed when someone would check up on me. I would've just gone over to his house but that's annoying and he wouldn't be exactly thrilled with that if he still felt bad.

_Feeling any better?_

**A lot better actually. I had a huge migraine last night.**

_Well I'm glad you're better. _

**Me too :) I have to go run some errands but I'll text you in a couple hours. **

_Have fun._

**Errands are never fun XD**

'Run some errands'? Alec didn't run errands, not that I knew of. I didn't let it bother me that much and went on with my day, feeding Chairman Meow on my way to the bar and going over new signs in my head the entire way there.

**A/N- Oh man, was that hard to write. First of all, I haven't written anything in a month and four days, and I'm so stuffy I can't breathe and my entire face hurts. I hope this is better than I think it is because I'm excited to get to the big parts of this story. Next chapter is more interesting, I swear, and it involves more heartfelt Malec. **

**Also- I missed COLS and haven't read it yet SO DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL DESTROY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!**

**Thanks you guys, remember to review! BUT DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT COLS!**

**~Ella, who is FUCKING SICK FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS MONTH!**


	19. Nineteen Napkins

**A/N- It's so good to be back. I missed you all so much and hearing you all praise my writing never fails to make my face turn into this mess ^O^ It's quite nice even though I'm still fucking sick. Fuck. **

**OH MY FUCKING JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH. IF ANY OF YOU HAVE READ CITY OF LOST SOULS YOU ABSOLUTELY **_**MUST**_ **PM ME SO WE CAN RANT ABOUT IT. THIS INCLUDES A MILD SPOILER SO QUIT READING IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK. CASSIE CLARE! WHY IN THE FUCKING WORLD WOULD YOU DO THAT TO THE MALEC FANS?**** WHY? TELL ME WHY!**

***ceases to exist***

**Disclaimer- I own nothing. **

Alec was missing in action for most of the day but I noticed I still had his sweatshirt on and it smelled like him. Jace actually caught me breathing in the piney-citrus scent on more than one occasion and was giving me a weird look, though he didn't say anything about it. Maybe he understood –I just missed my boyfriend –or maybe he didn't care. Either way, Alec wasn't next to me so I would smell his hoodie all I damn well pleased.

Although I don't really remember what time it was when I finally heard from Alec, I knew something was wrong. He sounded off, like something was bothering him but he wouldn't just come out and say it. I knew him better than he thought I did.

**Can you come over? I mean, if you're not too busy at the bar…**

_Of course, hun. Are you okay?_

**I'm fine. Just miss you.**

_Give me half an hour. I'll see you soon._

My mind went straight to the worst case scenario, even though Alec said he was fine. I assumed that he was sick or dying or in pain or someone else was. Maybe his cat died, maybe his little brother died, maybe someone was kidnapped or missing. Whatever it was that upset him caused me to speed down the highway and nearly get pulled over by the police.

I was surprised to find that the door to Alec's apartment was unlocked, which added to my growing unease. We'd only been dating for two months, which seemed like an eternity, but I knew he kept his doors locked. He had some strange fear about spiders finding out how to open his door and no matter how often I told him they were just going to crawl under it, he still kept it locked.

It was also a bit shocking to hear the blasting Nirvana song coming from his apartment. I barely heard it from the hallway, but once I was inside his small home it was loud enough to make _me _cringe. The pounding bass was close to making the windows shake, I'm sure, and I followed the sound to its source- Alec's bedroom.

Alec wasn't bleeding to death on his bedroom floor, or violently seizing in a corner somewhere. He had every single one of his limbs and wasn't vomiting blood or screaming in agony. No, he was sitting on the edge of his bed, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, tears I hadn't seen yet streaming down his facing, completely unaware that I'd shown up until I knelt down in front of him and made him look at me.

His eyes were the stormy blue I'd only seen flashes of when he was lost in his own thoughts. The swirling depths weren't calm, like usual. They were like an ocean during the worst of hurricanes; too many things crashing in them for me to really see. If I knew anything at all, it was that Alexander was clearly distressed and I wasn't making him feel any better.

He gave me a pitiful sniffle and I let him lean into me, bury his face into my neck. I'd seen Alexander cry on more than one occasion –he was a little sensitive sometimes –but never like that. He would only let his tears fall towards the misfortune of others. Whenever those commercials for the ASPCA came on showing all of those beaten animals he'd cry a bit or if something on the news was particularly terrible his eyes would well up. He cried for me when I spoke of my parents, and for anyone else who had a sad story to tell. Yet I'd never seen him shed a tear for himself until that day.

I didn't know what was wrong or what else to do, so I just let him cry into my shoulder for a long while, with Nirvana playing the same song over and over and over again, at least five times, Kurt Cobain wailing in my ear. I didn't want to abandon Alec so I didn't let him go to turn off the CD player I didn't know he had.

When my neck got a kink in it and my knees were starting to hurt, I finally let Alec go and swept the still falling tears from his cheeks. He was still beautiful as ever, even with wet cheeks and red, puffy eyes. I had to get my phone out just to ask what was wrong, but he didn't have his with him so I had to type it as a note, cursing my inability to fluently use ASL.

Alec's hands were shaking when he picked up my phone to answer.

**I still can't hear it. The player says it's really loud but I still can't hear it. I can only feel it, a little. **

There wasn't much I could say to that, though I knew what was wrong now. I sighed lightly and handed Alec a tissue from the box on his desk, still not turning the music down. I was used to it by then and I had a sort of idea that I hoped would make him feel better.

I let Alec blow his nose and slow down his tears for a few moments while I listened to the song. Or felt, rather. The song itself was very fast paced but the bass drum was slower than the rest of it. It could've easily been mistaken for a classical song or something else that was slow if one could only feel it instead of hear it.

I offered my hand to Alec, who took it gratefully as I pulled him to his feet. He tried to go to the bathroom, no doubt to try and get himself together, but I kept him close to me, our bodies touching. The hand that was holding his moved up and the other settled on his hip. Alexander looked confused, though he went with it, and eventually started moving his feet with mine, the both of us slowly going in a small circle.

Alexander had never danced before, I hadn't really expected him to, and so I lead him in our strange little dance, dipping my head down once or twice to kiss him for a brief moment. It was weird, slow dancing to such a fast song, but I let myself block everything out besides Alec and that one bass drum, and soon it started to make sense. For a few seconds I couldn't even hear the rest of the song, and it was just the drum, thumping in time to the movements of our feet and the beating of our hearts.

**A/N- OMG, this is the shortest chapter ever, but it was the best stopping point and if I go any further tonight the rest of this chapter will just be shitty. So the next chapter will be a hell of a lot longer, I just can't fucking write at the moment after reading that fucking book, oh holy god, someone please get me some air. I NEED OXYGEN. **

**~Ella, who thinks that if you haven't read COLS you need to read it RIGHT FUCKING NOW OR SO HELP HER RAZIEL SHE WILL KICK YOU IN YOUR TACO!**

**Oh by the way, Gerard dyed his hair brown -_- Can't tell if I like it or not. **


	20. Twenty Napkins

**A/N- Yay, I loved all of your reviews and COLS rants ^_^ They were the best and I love you all more than everyone else in my life at the moment. Yup. I was thinking today that Frank Iero's orgasm face is probably the same one he's got when he's really into playing his guitar. Wait…**

**Disclaimer- If I owned the Mortal Instruments, Clary would be dead and Jace wouldn't be allowed to wear a shirt. Ever. Alec and Magnus would be having sex every chapter, Simon and Izzy would declare their love for each other, Maia and Jordan would have little werewolf babies, Luke and Jocelyn would be honeymooning, and Camille would be a sex slave. Be glad I own nothing. **

I let Alec get himself together in the bathroom while I made some instant hot chocolate I found in his cupboards. It was still chilly in New York, even with the winter months rolling away into spring, and hot coco was always comforting. I sat patiently on his couch, adding the occasional marshmallow to my own steaming mug but leaving his alone. He probably liked his coco like he enjoyed his coffee –nothing added whatsoever.

The couch cushion beside me was taken by a pale body and I handed Alec his mug of molten chocolate. He took it gratefully and I watched as he curled his body around the ceramic as if it would warm his entire being. I sipped slowly at mine, careful not to burn my tongue, and offered him the small bag of marshmallows. He half smiled and let me pour a few into his hand, dropping them in his mug.

_Are you feeling better?_

**A lot better, actually. I've got you and hot chocolate now. **

I smiled in reply and pecked his cheek, leaving behind a small chocolate mark that I wiped away with the black sleeve of the hoodie he gave me.

**You're still wearing that.**

_I like the way it smells. Like you._

I lifted the sleeve up to his nose and let him sniff it, chuckling when he made a face.

**Do I always smell like that?**

_Delicious? Yes, you do. _

He graced me with a smile, bigger than the one he'd given me before, and let me kiss him briefly. Though it was short, I sighed at the feeling of his lips on top of mine, and as much as I wanted to stay there forever and kiss him until my lips cramped up, I needed to figure out what had really been bothering him. I pulled away with a small sigh and took a good look at him.

There were still some tear tracks left on his face and his cheeks were red, which may have been the product of crying, washing his face, then drinking hot liquids. His flush made the blue in his eyes stand out and the almost navy blue tints in his hair. Before I became too busy staring at him, I took my phone out.

_What happened earlier that made you so upset? I've never seen you like that before…_

**It was nothing important. **

_Everything about you is important to me._

**It seems stupid now. **

_Please tell me?_

**I was just thinking about how I'd never get to dance with you… I think I was trying to make myself hear something. Sometimes I have those days when all I can think about is being different from everyone else and I was at my breaking point. **

_I'm sorry baby. _

**Don't be sorry. What you did made me feel a lot better. **

I linked our fingers together and kissed the back of his hand, trying to keep pity out of my eyes. Alec was so strong sometimes, I forgot he was a year younger than me. He had a lot of knowledge for someone who hadn't even turned thirty yet, more than most adults. A lot of people could learn a thing or two from him.

* * *

><p>Alexander and I fell into a routine of some sort after that day. It was actually more like a flow than a routine, because we rarely did the same thing every day. It just felt like, even though we'd made it official weeks before, we were a <em>real couple<em>. We spent a lot of time together, and it was always enjoyable.

Every day was different. Sometimes we were at my house or his apartment, maybe the bar if we wanted free drinks. More often than not, as the days got warmer, we found ourselves in the park, strolling down the same path we walked on during our first date with our hands clasped tightly together. He'd even let me take him out shopping if I was extra sweet that day, though he only ever wore what I bought him when it was just the two of us. I was waiting for it to be really hot so I could convince him to go to the pool with me, if only to see what he looked like shirtless and in person.

It was rather strange, we got closer to being a couple for six months, yet I'd never even seen him shirtless before. Not in person, at least. For some reason, neither one of us had let it get that far yet. Sure, we had steamy makeout sessions that involved tongues and fingernails but we always kept all of our clothes on. I didn't think that was because we were uncomfortable with each other, it just hadn't come up yet. And I wanted to, believe me, I wanted to, but I was waiting for him to make the first move. I simply wanted to do it right with him.

There were still certain things I had yet to ask Alec about yet. For example, whether or not he could talk. Or if Chris did something else to him that I should know about. Whenever those questions popped into my head, we were having so much _fun_ that I felt like it would ruin everything if I randomly asked him, "Hey, so can you talk or are you like, a mute?" or "So, I was wondering if Chris happened to molest you, care to elaborate?" I kept them with me and they remained on the top of my list of things to ask him about but there was never a right time to ask him. I was still waiting.

My ASL was coming along better than I originally thought it would. There was something about the hands-on (no pun intended) way Ms. Laura taught that stuck with me permanently. It's like she'd show me a new sign one time and I immediately knew it forever. When I mentioned it to her, she said the biggest contributing factor was more than likely my relationship with Alec. She said I was so determined to be able to hold a conversation with him without the help of a cell phone that everything I learned was engraved somewhere in my brain.

I wasn't fluent in ASL, I was far from fluent, but I was farther along than most people in that class and tended to help some of them when they were confused. I showed up to every single class, even the ones on Sunday, though it got harder and harder to keep it from Alec. Whether it was when I didn't answer a text or had to cancel a date, I still felt awful about lying to him. He would get suspicious at times, though I couldn't really blame him for it.

I wanted so badly to be able to talk to him in ASL, just one conversation. It hurt sometimes to see sadness snuff out the usual happy flame in his eyes when we'd have to use our phones and ruin a good moment or something. My heart was fucking aching at the sight of that and I was already in the middle of planning what I was going to do when I surprised him. I knew what I was going to say… I mean sign, but I didn't know what the setting would be or what day it was going to be, or really anything besides the fact that it was going to be perfect.

We practically lived with each other, as there was hardly ever a night in which we weren't sleeping in the same bed, curled up in each other's arms with one of us wearing a borrowed t-shirt or pair of sweatpants. Alexander had a drawer in my dresser reserved just for him, and a bottle of his piney soap in my bathroom. We'd yet to exchange keys or toothbrushes, but we were getting there.

Jace was still on my case all the time about whether or not I was boning Alec and my answer was always a somewhat proud but somewhat disappointed "No." He'd grin or make some snarky comment and go back to his business while a mildly sulked for all of a few seconds about my dry spell.

In June, approximately a week before we were going to be officially together for six months, Alec was on his third consecutive night staying over at my apartment (still no key or toothbrush), and we were blatantly cuddling on my couch when Alec randomly kissed me in a sneak-attack fashion. I was stunned for a moment and the kiss was so short that I barely had time to kiss back, though it still left me momentarily breathless. The pale beauty just giggled and settled back into his comfortable position against my body.

I blinked and let the minutes tick by for a while, trying to figure out if he was having a moment of realization and just _needed_ to kiss me, or he needed to reassure himself that he was a good kisser, or…? I was really confused, and in hindsight I guess I didn't really need to be- Alec was filled with endless riddles and none of them I needed to be worried about. But the sneaky kiss threw me off and I was just sitting there like a derp, my mouth slightly open.

Probably fifteen minutes passed and the show we were watching was almost over, about to go to a commercial, so I grinned to myself and chastely kissed his lips for maybe two seconds before pulling away just as quickly. I saw him blink rapidly a few times in the corner of my eye but didn't do anything else. He didn't react immediately and I thought he wouldn't at all when he kissed me again, longer and with the tiniest hint of tongue.

We got into games like that a whole lot; kissing games, staring games, piggyback riding games, and so on. This one was a bit different, somehow more heated than what we usually did. The kisses were getting longer and the intervals between them shorter so in no time at all we were horizontal and making out, hot and sloppy and wet.

After six months of cold showers and making out with the sexiest man on the planet, I knew how to keep myself contained around Alec, but I was admittedly getting more and more turned on by the second. I was trying my damnedest to hold back the raging hard on that was threatening to make an appearance through my jeans, and I actually had to pull away from his magic mouth to kiss a blazing line down his jaw and to his throat, stopping to suck on the sensitive spot behind his left ear.

Ten soft fingers were gliding down my back and I unconsciously stifled my low moan, knowing that if I got too into it, I wouldn't be able to control myself. I tried to think of saggy grandmother boobs, old man dong, anything that was disgustingly unsexy, but it wasn't working. Just the touch of the skin of his neck on my lips was enough to get me heated, though Alexander sure as hell wasn't complaining.

I looked down from where I was kissing the crook of Alec's neck (also leaving a lovely hickey) and saw that his shirt had ridden up so the trail of fine, black hair that ran down from his bellybutton to the waistband of his jeans was showing. I followed it with my eyes but stopped myself before I got past the button on his jeans; I wasn't going to ogle his dick through his pants. That would make him uncomfortable. I just went back to kissing his neck, smiling when I saw the mark I was leaving behind.

Alec gently tugged at my hair and I moved back up to kiss his lips instead of his neck, the way we both preferred. We went on kissing like that for a little while longer, sweeter and with less tongue. I calmed down a bit, or maybe too much, because I had to keep forcing myself not to yawn and kill the moment, which made my jaw do this strange thing that made my ears wiggle and Alec kept giving me a look.

_No, no, no! _I thought. I wasn't _allowed _to be tired, it was too damn early. I wanted a shirt off and hair pulled and moans and groans and less clothing. And some fucking romance. I didn't have any like, elaborate plan or something, but I wanted it and Alec wanted it and it wasn't fair that my body was betraying me and being tired.

I was so busy thinking about being tired that I forgot to force myself to hold in my yawn and I let it slip out. Alec gave me an equally sleepy smile and I was glad that I wasn't the only one who was totally exhausted, but also mildly miffed that I wouldn't kiss him again until the next day. At least we hadn't gotten any farther and then had to stop, because it would've been awful to finally get his shirt off and then be too tired to do anything after that.

Alec gave me a small, close-mouthed kiss that either lasted five minutes or five seconds –my sense of the passing of time was completely thrown off when I kissed Alec for too long –and got up to brush his teeth using the spare toothbrush I had, though it was basically his. I changed into something more comfortable to wear to bed instead of the skinny jeans and tank top I had on, then decided to maybe sneak another heated kiss in before going to sleep.

With a slightly devious smile, I tried to creep into the bathroom but Alec was already on his way out and I basically ended up opening the door for him. He smiled, probably thinking I was being chivalrous rather than sneaky, and I sluggishly sunk into bed beside him, trying to come up with a way to surprise Alec with my ASL abilities before passing out completely.

**A/N- Hm. I dunno what happened here, it was going to be more in depth but I'd have twelve pages if I did that, so I made into more of a 'let's skip forward four months and then make a filler' type of chapter. In other news, tomorrow is my last day of school so expect more chapters more frequently. I've got cover art for this now (thank Fanfiction) and it's by Jinx-Blood, so yeah. Sorry bout the delay, I was just being a lazy bitch. Man, I'm a mean author. **

**~Ella, who's ear hurts because it got kneed by one of her best friend's little brothers. Not cool, bro. **


	21. Twenty-One Napkins

**A/N- Every time I get a new review there's always that one part of my brain that's like "Oh no, someone finally figured out I'm a shitty writer, oh god, I knew this would happen, it's totally a flame, I know it's a flame, I know it, oh I'm gonna cry, this is awful, goodbye Fanfiction" and then it's not a flame ^_^ btw, you guys can't tell cuz Fanfiction won't let you, but this was written in rainbow letters that are dedicated to Magnus and Alec's gayer than a unicorn relationship. Wootle.**

**Now that the people of Fanfiction decided to be awful, I don't know when I'll get to write that lemon. I haven't seen any stories disappear so far so don't pay any attention to the rumors. Do us all a favor and email Fanfiction in a calm and orderly fashion. The more you know. *do do, do, doooo***

**OH AND BY THE FUCKING WAY, IS IT CUM OR COME? I NEVER FUCKING KNOW ARGH AND IS THE PAST TENSE CAME OR COMED OR CUMMED OR FUCKING WHAT.**

**Disclaimer- Iownnothing.**

"Jace!" I exclaimed, running into the bar the next day and skidding to a stop in front of him. I had said a hasty goodbye to Alec on my way out the door that morning after he'd asked me where I'd been on Tuesday, and I left a bit earlier for work, making up some lame excuse I'm sure. "I need your help!"

"No," Jace said without missing a beat. "I will not have a threesome with you and Alec."

"What?"

"What?"

We stared each other down for maybe too long, and then I shook away the strange moment to get to my point. "You know fluent sign language right?"

"Yeah, and…?" He was aimlessly flipping through a magazine I couldn't see the cover of and seemed much more interested in it than what I was saying.

"Will you tell me if I'm doing it right?"

"Magnus, you don't know sign language," he said, bored. "And I'm not going to teach you."

"Jace, fucking listen, I _do_ know it, or a little of it." I shook my head, exasperated. "Look, could you just help me… Please?"

His eyes lazily slid up to mine, releasing their hold on his seemingly interesting magazine. "When did you find the time to learn sign language?" he asked, sounding bored but the smallest bit interesting.

"You're forgetting that the world exists before noon, Jace." His focus was back on his magazine after he heard my half-assed reply and I was close to just backhanding him in order to get his full attention. This was important.

"Well, how much do you know already? Besides the alphabet." Jace's voice was hitting the wood of the bar and the glossy paper of whatever he was reading, but I knew it was directed towards me.

I didn't answer right away, pausing to think for a moment. "Probably enough to have a conversation with someone."

"Show me, then," Jace suggested. "I'll tell you how much you screw up." He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I sighed.

'I hate you,' I signed with a look of disdain on my face.

'Keep going,' was all he signed back, not bothering to tell me if I messed something up or not.

Having gone over everything I knew I was going to say to him beforehand, I had no problem repeating it all to Jace himself. 'I hate you but I love your brother. I love him more than I have ever loved anyone before.'

Jace's hand flew up in a 'stop right there' kind of way. He shook his head and my heart clenched when I feared I'd done something wrong, like said pants instead of love or something. "I hate you but I pants your brother." The look on Jace's face wasn't telling me that I'd mis-signed something though; it seemed more like he was completely revolted.

"I do not want to know about all that sappy love bullshit," he said, assuring me indirectly that I'd signed everything correctly. "Sign something else."

'What are you reading?' I signed instead. I'd definitely wanted to keep going on about Alec, though I was somewhat proud of myself for knowing what I was asking him. It was a small accomplishment for me.

'Cosmopolitan.' His answer came with a sly grin, one that he always used to suggest something inappropriate.

I squinted at him. 'I don't think I want to know why you are reading that.'

With a shrug, he signed, 'It has good tips for the bedroom.'

'I really hate you.'

"That was actually really good," Jace finally vocalized, sounding oddly surprised. "Where did you learn to sign?"

"There's a bi-weekly class down at the community center, the one on Main Street," I explained. "I go there every Tuesday and Thursday."

"How long have you been going there?"

"Uh." I paused, thinking. "I don't really know; I few months."

"You're doing pretty well… A lot better than I was doing after a few months. And I was taught by a professional…" His voice trailed off and I figured our conversation was over when he spoke again. "So… you're doing all of this… for Alec?"

My eyebrows drew together, slightly confused. "Yeah… who else would I be doing this for?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know, I'm just saying that it's… kind of like… sweet, or something." His eyes glued themselves back to his Cosmo, though he continued speaking. "I mean… you're learning an entire language just to be with Alec; no one's really done that before. Not in that way."

"Is this your fucked up way of saying you approve of me as his boyfriend?" I asked, my grin obvious in my voice.

The golden haired Lightwood snapped his gaze back to me, eyes slightly narrowed. "What? No. I was just saying-"

"That I'm a sweet boyfriend," I finished for him.

"That's not what I said. Don't flatter yourself."

"Hiding your feelings will get you nowhere, Jace!" I sang as I walked away from him. "Don't be afraid to show your true colors!"

A few hours later, while I was staring aimlessly at a glass that had a speck on it that suspiciously looked like blood, I decided to text Alec. I didn't really know what to tell him, my whole "Surprise Alec With The Fact That You Know Sign Language" plan I had was only on Phase Two. Phase One was actually learning sign language and Phase Two was figuring out how I was going to surprise him, while Phase Three consisted of me actually surprising him.

So, as a direct result of sheer boredom and questionable mental stability, I texted Alec "Your farts smell good" because I knew he'd answer me anyways. And I'd probably get a good laugh out of it.

**?**

_You have sexy feet. _

**Magnus, what the fuck. **

_Sorry darling. I was bored xD_

**You're lucky I love you. **

_Yes, I am :) I have a question. _

**I probably have an answer. **

_Will you go out with me?_

**I thought I already was…**

_I meant that literally. Let's go for a walk and get some coffee or something. _

**Okay, when do you want to go?**

_In about an hour. I'll pick you up?_

**Sure. **

_Yay :D I'll see you in an hour. Love you. _

**Love you too. **

"Jace," I called, standing up from my slouched position against the bar. "I'm leaving to go make out with your brother, please refrain from burning this place down." I wasn't exactly leaving to go make out with Alec (though I hoped it was in my near future); I was actually just going home to fix my hair/makeup and then think about what I was going to do to surprise Alec. But it was worth it to here Jace's confused and mildly pissed off spluttering as I walked out the door.

**A/N- *le sigh* I don't know what's wrong with me you guys. I feel like my writing is off… I don't know why. I think my brain finally gave up on me. Oh well. Sorry this took so long, it's summer, so instead of being a good author person, I'm slacking off, staying up till 6 am then sleeping until two and basically sitting on my ass all day, although I HAVE started running every other morning. Just a mile though. **

**My fastest time running a mile is 14 minutes. Is that bad? It used to be 17…**

**Pleeeeeeeeeease review, I'm almost begging here. **

**I  
>NEED<br>FEEDBACK!  
>(please)<strong>

**~Ella, who says REVIEW OR THE BUNNY GETS IT! *holds gun against bunny's head* YOU INTO ANIMAL CRUELTY BRO? ELLA DIDN'T THINK SO AND IF YOU WANT THIS BUNNY TO LIVE THEN YOU BETTER REVIEW NOW! **


	22. Twenty-Two Napkins

**A/N- I got 74 reviews for the last chapter. That's the most I've ever gotten for one chapter in the history of my Fanfiction. So... thanks for that. I'll try to update faster next time. **

**Sorry this took so long- I'm a bad person. And I'm sick. And I just discovered Tumblr. And I also hate everything. School is starting soon. I want to die. Someone kill me. **

**Disclaimer- I do not own SHIT.**

My original plan to surprise Alec was supposed to include many declarations of love, romantically lit bedrooms, maybe even the possibility of a homemade dinner and a picnic blanket, but almost setting fire to our apartment was certainly not something I had in mind.

I'd been pondering what to do in my living room that afternoon before I picked Alec up when I thought _Make him dinner, because _that's_ not cliché! _And it seemed like the perfect idea, especially since I knew Alec always appreciated a homemade meal. I overlooked the fact that I couldn't cook at that time, too proud of myself for finally putting Phase Three into action.

There was still plenty of time to kill until Alec was expecting me so I decided to run some errands to make the day even better. If I wanted to give my boyfriend a perfect date, I'd have to buy some more things, because hey, you can't put a price on love. Or perfection, for that matter.

Wal-Mart seemed like the best option because you could buy literally anything but a vehicle or a house at that place. I didn't need much, and I didn't think it'd be too expensive to get what I wanted, but it was Wal-Mart and I became easily distracted so by the time I left I was already late. I blamed the atmosphere of Wally World and the certain asshole I literally ran into.

Chris Dickface was clearly not looking where he was going, probably wandering around with his head up his ass, and I was just minding my own business when he seemed to ram his body into mine. I was walking past the same aisle he was coming out of, and though he missed my cart completely, he somehow found a way to hit me. I wasn't a big guy, not particularly muscular or anything, and I probably would have toppled over had it not been for my cart.

He was shorter than me, so I guess I shouldn't have been intimidated, but he looked kind of menacing and I was about to retort with something witty and clever when I saw his face. He looked manic and mean so I gave him a hearty glare instead and made my way through the supermarket, feeling like even more of a failure of a boyfriend when I realized I was late.

In my haste to get to Alec's house before he became worried, I left one of my grocery bags in my shopping cart. It was one I figured I really needed in order to give my house _pizazz _but I forgot it and it sat in my otherwise empty shopping cart, alone and probably melting in the heat. I tried to brush it off and thought that someone else would find joy in happening upon a bag full of sultry smelling candles.

Alec was already waiting on the front steps of his apartment complex when I pulled up, wearing the usual hoodie and jeans but still looking completely adorable. He stood up as soon as I stopped my car and walked over to me, arms open in a 'hug me right now' kind of way. I walked into his arms and lifted him up a bit, maybe even adding a small spin as my way to apologize for being late. His giggle rang in my ears.

The car ride back to my house was quiet but not uneventful. Alec had found the Wal-Mart bag I'd unceremoniously dumped onto the passenger's side mat and raised a thoughtful eyebrow at me. I would've given him some sort of explanation but I was trying to drive without dying. He just shook his head at me, a small smile pulling at his lips, and played on his phone until we got there.

I was feeling chivalrous that day and darted out of the car to open Alec's door for him, grinning at the way his hand hovered in the air where he was about to open it himself. I took his empty hand and pulled him out of the car, taking the plastic bag from him. When we entered my apartment together, Alec was immediately assaulted by Chairman Meow, who latched onto his leg.

I left Alec with the Chairman because they were both so goddamn cute together and went to the kitchen to put my purchases away. Alec eventually followed me, my cat purring in his arms, and kissed my cheek while I was distracted by the wretched plastic that prevented me from fully opening a new dry-erase board. I finally got it open and smiled, successfully sticking the magnets on it and putting it on my fridge. Alexander and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and I thought it would be a nice way to talk to each other sometimes, even if it was just used to write sweet nothings and random doodles.

Alec smiled and balanced Chairman in one arm while picking up the black marker the whiteboard came with. After a few seconds, he moved away so I could see and went back to the living room where I heard the TV turn on. No doubt he was going to put it on What Not To Wear.

The message he'd written me was small, in little black letters, and it took me a moment to fully read it.

**Alec was here :)**

I chuckled to myself and shook my head. He was too cute.

* * *

><p>Alec ended up insisting he helped me make our dinner and I wasn't going to argue with him, so I let him make this sauce his mother came up with for the chicken we were making. I was going to do it myself, but I figured he'd probably do it better; he cooked a lot more often than I did.<p>

He was distracting me with the way he was stirring the sauce, he was just so cute, had even taken his hoodie off, and it was making me struggle with setting the timer on the stove. I don't think I actually used the thing before that day and I wasn't entirely sure if I'd set it for hours or minutes… I'd just watch the clock.

I was feeling sly and when he handed the sauce for me to pour (or as he described 'blanket') over the chicken I managed to get some (a lot) on his black t-shirt. I shrugged a sort of 'oops' to him and stuck the chicken in the oven, kicking the door up with my foot and closing it with my hip. Alec was smiling slightly as he wiped at the stain on his shirt with a wet paper towel, but I had other ideas and picked up a dry erase marker.

_I can throw that in the washing machine for you._

He looked up and was probably about to decline, though I whipped his shirt off of him in half a second and went to go put it in the wash. When I came back, I saw that he looked a bit bewildered and that he was wearing an undershirt. An _undershirt. _In the middle of summer. It was almost ninety degrees outside with a one hundred percent chance of ball sweat and he was wearing a tank top under a shirt under a hoodie. That didn't make sense to me.

My efforts were proved to not be entirely useless when I saw how tight the shirt was. It was also white and kind of see-through; I think it was called a wife-beater, so I wasn't really mad. I'd get him out of it eventually.

We went back to the couch after cleaning up the kitchen a bit and I noticed Alec get his sweatshirt back on with a small shiver. _Shit,_ I thought. _My air conditioning is on full blast._ I huffed to myself and left Alec for a moment to mess with the thermostat a little. Ten degrees would make that sweatshirt, and hopefully the tank top underneath of it, come right off.

It only took half an hour for the temperature to go up, and that wasn't just because Alec and I were making out on my couch. My little thermostat trick had worked, and I knew so when Alec removed his lips from mine to unzip his hoodie and toss it onto the loveseat across from us. I grinned and pulled him back down on top of me.

It was probably another few minutes before Alec stopped kissing me again, and I was hoping against all hope that he was only pausing to take his tank top off, but he just looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and began the search for his phone.

**Do you smell that?**

I stopped my hoping and took a deep inhale, cringing when I realized how smoky it smelled in the living room. I thought that maybe something on the highway was burning, possibly a car crash or something, but not three seconds later my fire alarm went off.

**A/N-I apologize for being a little limp dick butt fucker when it comes to updating, but I'm really… I don't know, I'm just kind of messed up right now. It's not a big deal or anything, no one's sick or dying or dead, I'm just angsty. But I got seventy four reviews that really made me smile and haven't had any flames or anything, though I did get seven different messages asking me why I didn't update. **

**I just want you to know that no matter what situation I get into, I will **_**NEVER**_** stop writing this story. So if something happens and I don't update for over a month, I haven't given up or quit or anything. The usual problems are that I'm lazy, sick, or depressed. Just a heads up. **

**Sorry if this sucked, I'm still trying to get used to writing again. Next one will be better and less of a filler… hopefully. No one flame me please, if you're going to do that just message me. Makes it easier. **

**~Ella, who is going to put some lyrics here and if anyone knows the band they come from please know that she loves you- "How, does it feel knowing you're barely alive? See through bloodshot eyes, you're left empty inside."**


	23. Twenty-Three Napkins

**A/N- Really liked your reviews you guys, even though I always say that xD **

**Lol high school is almost as bad as middle school. Almost. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything. **

"Luckily you won't need to replace anything..."

I wasn't at all paying attention to the firefighter talking to me about the hazards of ovens and why cooking chicken is especially dangerous because Alec was sitting on the front steps of my apartment with curiously wide eyes, a permanent blush on his cheeks that was either from the heat or from the fact that we had been making out for a long time. He still had his tank top on.

My fire alarm had immediately contacted the local fire department and they'd shown up at my door in less than ten minutes, demanding that they inspect the building to make sure it's 'safe' before anyone else entered. They even took the liberty of evacuating the whole place and I knew I was going to have to explain what happened to everyone in my building within the next few days.

What an _ordeal._

"Did you catch all of that? I don't want this happening again."

I snapped back to attention and nodded at the man carrying the fire hose. "Yes, won't happen again..." I glanced at the name on his hat/helmet. "Ragnor. Won't happen again. Promise."

Ragnor nodded, though he didn't look convinced as he went back to his fellow firemen and gave them the all clear while I made my way to Alec. He was just sitting there, on the front steps, looking innocent and sort of confused, though he did make the effort to give all of the firemen going in and out of the apartment a nice smile. He didn't get many in return.

I held out my hand to him and he took it gratefully, hauling himself up. We went back into my apartment once I double checked to make sure no more firemen were slinking around somewhere and went back to the spot of our previous make out session- the couch. I was hoping to continue with the making out, but of course Alec had questions as to what had happened. His phone was out in a millisecond and he was typing away at the virtual keyboard, sending a message to me in no time.

**Was there an actual fire? **

I inwardly sighed to myself. This was going to be fun to explain.

_No, just some smoke from overcooked dinner._

**Is that because I was… distracting you?**

_I believe it was just my own incompetence. _

**So that's why it was so hot…**

_Not exactly… My heat was turned up pretty high. _

**Oh. It's fixed now though?**

_It wasn't broken. _

**Okay now I'm lost. **

I sighed again, out loud that time, and figured out how to word what I needed to say.

_I just turned it up. _

**Why?**

_Well…_

**Magnus. **

_You just had your hoodie on all the time and then a shirt underneath your shirt and I thought that if I turned the heat up just a little bit maybe you'd take something off, I don't know… _

**So you're saying you wanted me to take my clothes off. **

_I was trying to say it in a way that wasn't so creepy. _

He sighed ever so softly as he stood up and for a second I thought he was just going to leave, but he turned to me with his hands on his hips and gave me a "srsly" look. With a cocked eyebrow and the tiniest of smiles, Alec swiftly pulled his white tank top off his back, tossing it onto the couch next to him.

My brain seemed to stutter and then completely shut off as it took in the image of Alexander Lightwood standing in front of me, all pale glory and a bit of sweat, completely shirtless. Not only did he have a perfect set of six pack abs, but his skin was completely flawless. Not a mark, not a scratch, no scars, not even a freckle.

I stood up slowly, unsure of whether I should keep my eyes on his now bare torso or move them up to his face. I was still sort of surprised he was acting so cool about everything and just… took his shirt off in front of me. I'd been waiting so patiently for him to be comfortable enough around me to get to that point, and I almost felt like I was pushing him past his comfort level, though he seemed perfectly fine standing half naked in the middle of my living room.

Alec was just looking at me, seeming oddly innocent, lips a little parted and eyes bright blue. I suddenly found my hands on his skin, his hips, traveling upward slowly so I didn't miss an inch. From his waist up to his stomach, all I felt were firm, taught muscles and smooth skin. I noticed halfway up that Alec's eyes had slipped closed and his head was tilted back just enough for me to catch the small movement. Farther up my hands went, gliding across his chest and up to his neck, finally resting on the sides of his face, thumbs sweeping on his cheek bones as I silently asked for him to open his eyes.

He didn't open them right away, like he was debating whether or not he should, but when he did I noticed that something had changed. Alexander's eyes had changed from bright sky blue to something deeper and much darker, almost purple. It was so different from what I was used to, ridiculously alluring. I loved it.

I was pulled forward by warm hands on my back into Alec's waiting arms, my clothed chest flush against his bare one. I could feel the pounding of his heart next to the steady rhythm of mine when we kissed a sweet kiss, one that said "You're amazing, and I love you." It was long and slow and full of different emotions, but it was the only sweet kiss we'd share that night.

Something snapped, ignited between us simultaneously, and our sweet slowness turned into something much hotter and faster in a millisecond. It was all lips and tongues and hands exploring everywhere and my mind was just Alec. Everything was Alec.

He was acting different. In a good way of course, but still different. He was more in control than usual, more dominant, taking the liberty of parting my lips with his and getting his tongue in my mouth before I even had time to think about what was happening or where it was going. Alec apparently wanted it to go to the wall because that's where my back ended up, pressed against the cool structure so we were pointed towards my bedroom door.

I slipped my hands into the back pockets of Alec's jeans, wanting to have some sort of say in the situation. Alec didn't object or throw my hands away and storm out, just made the smallest of noises in the back of his throat and pressed his body against mine. Everything about what was happening was making me hot and causing my brain to go completely fuzzy.

We were just making out against the wall for a while, Alec sending me different surprises every few seconds. He was nipping at my lips at times and pressing me harder against the wall, and next thing I knew he was tugging at the hem of my shirt, silently demanding that it came off. I complied almost immediately, lifting my back from off the wall for only a second so Alec could lift the shirt off for me. He dropped it onto the carpet and then just looked at me, breathing hard and flushed.

We'd never gone that far before, not like that, and I think at that moment neither one of us were really sure what to do next. I just looked at him for a few seconds, looking at his hair that was falling into his eyes and the way the moisture on his lips was catching the light and making them seem glossy… the way he seemed so incredibly sure about himself and what he was doing. It made me think for a moment, really think about what this meant, what could happen afterwards, and how much I wanted to do it. With him.

With a final kiss that sealed the step we were about to take and conveyed more things than I could put into words, I took both of Alec's hands in mine and slowly walked both of us towards my bedroom door, trying to keep eye contact in case he changed his mind. His eyes and body were steady though, both of them following me all the way there. I lowered myself onto the mattress carefully and guided Alec up on top of me swallowing a little thickly. He gave me a lusty smile, one that confirmed everything I was thinking and feeling, and I knew that night was the night.

Finally.

**A/N- Oh my fucking god, I'm such a bitch, but lemon next chapter (obviously) and I'm actually getting advice from someone who's a) kissed people and b) had sex with people, so it should be not shitty. **

**You finally got shirtless Alec and also shirtless Magnus and soon you'll have completely naked Alec and Magnus followed by sweaty Magnus and Alec then of course debauched Alec and Magnus and probably tired Magnus and Alec. **

**:D**

**Review pretty please? While I still have my randomly ignited muse?**

**~Ella, who wants to burn down her high school and marry Scarlett Johansson. **


	24. Twenty-Four Napkins

**A/N- WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A LEMON. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. Not ALL of it is a lemon, there's some really important shit at the end of this so just... scroll down a lot or something xD I don't care.  
>DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT ALEXANDER THE GREAT WAS A FLAMING HOMOSEXUAL?! MY HISTORY TEACHER TOLD ME HOW COOL IS THAT IT'S LIKE ALEC IN A PAST LIFE WAS GAY TOO! Of course I take historical facts and link them up with Fanfiction… *sigh*<br>Listen to the song Hot Like Fire by the XX which, thanks to Veronica, inspired most of this chapter :3**

The light from the setting sun was coming in through my window despite the blinds in soft beams of yellow and orange that landed on Alec's skin, making him glow in different colors as his silhouette danced on the sheets. His mouth was warm on mine, his lips caressing and careful like his hands on my hips. I couldn't help but follow his every movement; going where he was going, craving his touch, the feeling of his body.

My heart was pounding but I was so calm in his arms it was like nothing else was around us; we were the only people in the world to each other, or at least the only ones that mattered. Each new kiss was a spark between us, sending heat throughout my body and coming out in a gasp. Sometimes Alec would feel the slight inhale and catch it with his mouth, pressing his grinning lips to mine.

I wanted to kiss him for eternity, and it seemed like I had when he reached for the button on my jeans. He didn't take them off immediately though, he paused to look at me through heavy eyes, asking for permission to go further. Our eyes locked for all of two seconds when he got the message and slowly slid my pants down my legs, across my thighs, over my knees, and to my ankles where I kicked them off myself.

Alexander kissed away any other thoughts I had, replacing them with him; his name, his lips, his skin, his flawless body. It was only when he rolled us over so I was on top that I realized how hot I already was. His hands had burned a blazing trail down my legs when he'd taken my pants off, and now they were heating up the rest of me, starting with my hips and going from there. They moved over my sides and up my torso to my chest and neck. Alec grasped the side of my cheeks and kissed my lips, sliding his tongue between them as his hands found mine.

He guided my hands to the buckle on his belt and left them there, his own going back to play with the ends of my hair and stroke the sides of my face. The feeling of the cool metal against my fingertips jolted me for a moment and I hesitantly began to undo it, preoccupying my lips with his. I soon got the belt loose and pulled it out of the loops on his jeans, hearing the telltale tingle of the metal hitting the floor. Alec's jeans slid off easily, as they weren't as tight as mine, and soon they joined his belt on the carpet next to the bed, our lips never disconnecting.

Warm hands found their way to my thighs and snaked themselves underneath the legs of my boxers, going up the sides of my legs and resting on my hip bones. Alec's hands brushed over me, just once, but it was enough to make me gasp at the heat that shot through my veins. With his hands still inside my boxers, Alec somehow managed to slip the garment off and pull it all the way down to my ankles, surprising me with how forward he was. I gently lifted his hips off the mattress to discard his underwear as well, and he complied easily, arching his back to help.

The second the fabric hit the floor I stopped; paused whatever I was doing, removed my lips from his, and sat back on my heels to look at him. Not to touch, just to look, to see how beautiful he was completely exposed to me in every way. He was pale all over, no tan lines or markings, and seeing him lying in front of me sweaty and breathless was something I could stare at forever.

A blush crept from Alec's neck to his cheekbones at the way I was staring at him, and he looked away from me, biting his lip. I smiled at him and kissed him again, getting his bottom lip out from between his teeth as he experimentally rolled his hips against mine and created an amazing friction.

Our hands explored each other's bodies, finding where we were the most sensitive and figuring out how we reacted to the other's touch. Things were considerably hotter than they had been a few moments before, now that it was all bare skin against bare skin, and I couldn't help how much I wanted him.

I took my time kissing as much exposed skin as I could; the corner of his mouth, all down his jawline, to his neck. I spent a long time at his neck, it just tasted sweet and was so soft, so _Alec_, I didn't want to move. Though eventually I had to let it go and moved on to the junction of his neck and shoulder, across his collarbone and to the side of his chest, where his heart was beating rapidly. Goosebumps were left wherever my lips went, leaving a trail of raised dots on Alec's skin. I could've sworn he shuddered.

Alec coaxed my head back up to his and kissed me deeply, turning us around again so I barely noticed that he was above me. Our kisses got faster, needier, and soon I heard Alec make that noise I loved so much, that little whimper moan in the back of his throat that I only heard because of how close we were. I'd give anything to get him to make it again, and I believe he was thinking the same thing.

He was just full of surprises that night, doing things I'd never expect him to do outside of that situation, and it seemed like every time I did something, touched him somewhere, he reacted in a way I wouldn't have seen coming. I involuntarily lifted my hips for a moment, my body begging for some other sort of friction, and I expected Alec to maybe move his hips back or kiss me harder, but that's not exactly what he did.

Our lips were actually separated and he sat up as much as he could what with being on top of me, sliding his body forward a few inches and settling his knees on either side of me. I was too turned on to really see what he was doing, but I could definitely feel it, and without any warning, any preconceived notions, Alec lowered himself onto me.

I gasped, my body erupting into a hundred different feelings and sensations, all of them centered on being so close to Alec, being _inside_ of him. Electricity shot all the way to my toes, making them curl, and tried my best to stay still, for his sake. It couldn't have been too comfortable and I didn't want to push him too far. I just wanted to make him feel the way I was feeling; utterly incredible.

I gave him a minute or two to get more comfortable, pulling him down for a kiss to make as much of pain go away as possible. I even tried rubbing his back and playing with his hair, containing any other movement until he was ready. Eventually his hips started rolling against me and I could feel his body loosening up.

A vibration went through my lips when Alec made even the slightest noise, making me hyper aware of every sound he made. He wasn't quite moaning, it was more like his breath was catching every so often, and I moved my hips up just a bit to see if I could get him to be a little bit louder. The next noise he made was just an exhaled vowel, but it was louder than anything that'd ever come out of his mouth, including his giggle. Any movement I made, he made back, we were completely in sync and soon fell into a steady rhythm.

I wanted to whisper something in his ear, to tell him how much I loved him or how beautiful he was, but of course he'd never hear it. There was only so much I could convey with just my body, so I made sure that whatever noise I made was right in his ear. I was hoping that he'd feel the hotness of my breath, the vibrations it sent to his ear, the tiniest disturbance of air.

Alec must've picked up on something, because he started moving faster and became more vocal than before. I was hearing more of his voice than I could've imagined and it was doing all sorts of things to my mind and body, making things almost overwhelming. I was damn near pushed over the edge when Alec laced his fingers laced into my hair and tugged on it, but I managed to control myself. I wanted this to last as long as possible. We rocked against each other and moaned into each other's mouths for what could've been five minutes or five hours, sharing kisses and sensations and a whole new experience as a couple.

I could feel the familiar coiling in my stomach telling me that this was all about to end and tried to warn Alec somehow, but I just kept moving my hips up, trying to make Alec feel as good as possible, searching for that one spot that would make him see stars. I knew I'd found it when Alec's hand shot out to mine, squeezing it. His hand was trembling slightly, telling me that he was near the end as well, and I made an effort to hit the same spot over and over again, listening to the noise he made each time I did.

With one final gasp, Alec shuddered and came in between our stomachs. I opened my eyes in time to see what his expression was, what his face looked like when he was completely blissed out. His head was thrown back, dark hair hanging into his closed but shuddering eyes, mouth hung open in a silent moan. His hand was gripping mine and I held it just as tight when I came only a few seconds later. We rode out the high together, connected in more ways than one, both of us in a state of mind where nothing else existed but the person next to us and the overwhelming feeling taking over our bodies.

We both came down from the soaring feeling eventually, and Alec got off of me, climbing down from the bed and onto the floor with shaky legs, coming back to me with his t-shirt. He helped me wipe off my stomach with his own shirt, a gesture that was ridiculously sweet, then tossed it off to the side again, letting it fall to the floor with the rest of our discarded clothing.

Alec lay down on the bed net to me, snuggling himself into my arms, sighing into my neck. His eyes were already closed and his muscles were relaxed; the poor thing was exhausted. I just brought him closer to my body, feeling like for some reason I had to be there to make sure he was secure and warm and would have someone to wake up to in the morning. Moving sweaty hair out of the way, I kissed his forehead and placed my head on his chin, letting my eyes get heavier.

And then he surprised me for last time that night.

As I was just about to slip into a blissful sleep, I heard something, and felt breath on my neck again. A sound rang out that was so soft I could've imagined it; a voice that sounded shy and quiet but also sure of itself, knowing exactly what it was saying and what it all meant. A voice that came from the wonderful human almost asleep in my arms. A voice I thought I'd never really hear.

"I love you."

**A/N- Ooooh myyyy god. You guys I'm crying, I'm fucking crying at my own writing, how fucking conceited is that, I'm just listening to this song that's so akjsakfha and this scene is just kjfhka;akdjf and they asdhjk and I can't I just asfdhglh; oh my god.**

**Will you please review for me? PleASE? PLEASE OH MY GOD. This chapter was so hard to write and my PARENTS WERE LIKE FUCKING STALKING ME TODAY "what are you writing Ella why are you typing so fast why are your cheeks red are you sick is it that Fanfiction again what are you writing" oh jeez, please review this chapter killed me and LISTEN TO THE SONG AT THE TOP ON REPEAT I SERIOUSLY DID THAT THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS WRITING THIS JUST HOLY SHIT IT FITS SO WELL OH MY GOD**

**Fuck, I need some ice cream. **

**Just… just review, I gave you like… two thousand words of pure MALEC so if you love me you'll review and then I'll give you some crackers. Okay? Okay… I need to sleep now… I LOVE YOU ALL YOU CAN MARRY ME ANYTIME YOU WANT**

**~Ella, who is still kind of crying because her feelings can't handle it. COLS raped her soul and this didn't help. **


	25. Twenty-Five Napkins

**A/N- You guys. You GUYS. I've been seeing my own name/stories showing up on tumblr, you know how happy that makes me?! SO HAPPY. I reblog all of the ones I see so now you should go follow me, blacknails512 as usual :3 I fucking love all of you  
>AND OMFG DID YOU SEE THE MALEC HANDS AKJFAHLJFKAKSAJFHAJKLFJAHJG<br>AnD THE ViDEO AKJDHAKLJFKHNALSKJDKjN ASKJF,habdlkjgkajgn lakjcmg askd**

**Put up a new poll on my profile, decided to put a new one up every update so YAY GO VOTE PLEASE?**

**Disclaimer that I didn't have in the last chapter- As much as I want to own The Mortal Instruments, as well as Scarlett Johnasson, I unfortunately own neither. BUT SHE'S MINE DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER.**

Alec was sound asleep in my arms before I had very long to process or question what he'd said. It wasn't that I was unsure of whether or not he loved me –he told me every day –but I just couldn't help feeling that I'd imagined his voice in my ear, his breath on my neck. It was almost more logical to believe that I'd imagined it instead of believing he'd actually spoken.

In other words- I was kind of freaking out.

I was just half lying in my bed, with my arm curled around Alec's shoulder, trying not to fidget too much so I wouldn't wake him and letting my mind go crazy with ridiculous scenarios that wouldn't make any sense in the morning. I had been hearing things because I was tired, I'd imagined it because my brain was still fuzzy from everything that'd happened before, I was the one who actually said it at the same time that Alec was breathing so my brain tricked me into thinking it was him, it was all perfectly clear.

He had said it in an odd way though, like his lips and his tongue were out of sync just enough that I noticed. So he had a small impediment, which was understandable, he barely learned how to speak before he lost his ability to hear, but my brain was still trying to convince me I was being stupid and needed to get my ears checked. He had a speech impediment though… could you imagine an impediment?

I was giving myself a headache and just decided to talk to him the next day about it. Being exhausted and mildly sleep deprived was not helping at the moment, so I told myself to focus on the sleepy angel in my arms instead, listen to him breathe. I moved my hand up the crook of his shoulder and neck into his hair, tangling my fingers with the dark black threads and gently pulling them back out. Alec unconsciously responded, making one of those sleep noises that just made me think of him as even more of a kitten. With a smile, I kissed the top of his head and smiled even more when his arms tightened around me.

* * *

><p>Sometime that night, I was woken up by a strange, thunder-like sound directly in my ear that startled me for a moment, making me jump. I had the energy to get one of my eyes half open and I realized how completely dark it was in my room. When we had fallen asleep the sun was barely down and when I woke up I could only see as far as the light from my alarm clock illuminated. It was three fifteen. My ear felt oddly warm and my eyes were still heavy but I was conscious enough to notice that the strange noise was coming from Alec's stomach, which I was resting my head on. I'd somehow migrated all the way down there in my sleep but it's not like I was really complaining.<p>

Alec's stomach growled in my ear again and I lifted my head up, blearily blinking my eyes at him. He was already awake, looking sheepishly at me and blushing a bit, somehow smiling with his bottom lip between his teeth. I moved up his stomach some more and bent my back at a weird angle to get my lips connected to his, grinning when his stomach made noise again. It sounded like it was getting close to just digesting itself unless I fed him soon.

I had realized barely ten seconds before falling asleep that we never actually got to eat dinner, seeing as how I nearly set ours on fire and then we were too busy being attached to each other to bother cooking something else. It wasn't even seven by the time we were done and we'd been asleep for about eight hours already. He was probably starving.

With a slight groan and a long stretch, I got my arm to the other side of the bed where my phone was sitting on the side table and brought it back to where we were laying on each other. I knew Alec's phone was back in the living room where he'd left it in his hoodie pocket so I just typed my message and left it open, setting it on his abdomen so he could read it.

_Would you like an early breakfast or a really late dinner? _

He just typed his reply under my own message and handed it back to me.

**You can sleep a while longer if you want to. I'll be fine for a few more hours. **

_Dinner it is_.

I saw Alec just shake his head and smile, reaching for my phone again.

**Can I use your shower while you make "dinner?"**

_Of course, darling. _

He smiled again, though I could tell he was trying to contain the grin, and kissed me softly before I moved off of him so he could get out of my bed. The sheets slipped away from him as he stood up and I got a full view of his perfect body as he was gathering up his strewn about clothes. After a minute or two of staring, Alec finally noticed and blushed a color that resembled that of a pomegranate and threw the closest piece of clothing, which happened to be my boxers, at me, getting me in the face. I just laughed and removed the article from my face, getting it off in time to see Alec dart into the bathroom.

While Alec was in the shower, I gathered the rest of my own clothes, throwing them in the washing machine along with Alec's dirty shirt that had certain fluids on it. I pulled on some clean, bodily fluid free clothes and combed through my hair, but when I got into the living room I saw one of my socks on the floor. Upon further inspection, I noticed that it had a rather large hole in it, one that definitely hadn't been there the day before.

_Mew_

I turned around to find Chairman Meow standing behind me, with his ears down and his little tail between his legs, looking like the most pitiful thing on the planet.

"Awwww," I said out loud, picking him up. "I set the apartment on fire and then I don't feed you; I'm the worst owner ever! Let's get you some food, yeah? You precious little thing."

After feeding the Chairman (and giving him a little extra) I scoured the fridge for something I could make for Alec and I. I found that we had leftover nothing, with a couple of nothings, and also lots of nothing. There was burnt chicken from the night before but I doubted Alec would eat that, and I didn't really want to anyways. Somehow I managed to gather together the food for some sort of breakfast burrito. So we could have an early breakfast for late dinner, seemed legit.

As I was frying and simmering various things, while also occasionally kicking away Chairman who was waiting for food to fall, I didn't hear Alec's soft footsteps coming into the kitchen. I jumped when he slid his hands around my waist, almost dropping the sliced bell pepper I had in my grip as well as the piece I had in between my teeth. Smiling as well as I could with pepper in my mouth, I turned in his arms and came to face the most gorgeous smile I'd ever seen, paired with a set of glowing eyes. Alec smiled wider and kissed me around the pepper, biting it off and taking it with him on his way to the stools next to the island counter. I noticed that he was wearing one of my shirts, and it made my grin grow to almost my ears.

When I turned back around to check on the vegetables, I heard a certain hiss that definitely hadn't come from the frying pan, or Chairman Meow for that matter. I flicked my head back around, saw Alec wincing as he sat down on the wooden chair, and felt like I'd just gotten smacked in the back of the head with the sudden realization that hit me- We hadn't used _anything _to help with the pain on his end. I didn't use a condom or offer any lube or even try to prepare him; I felt like the worst boyfriend in the world. I actually couldn't believe it slipped my mind so completely, I think my mouth fell open, and he was walking so normally! Like nothing was even bothering him.

I abandoned my frying pan for a few moments to grab a seat cushion from the good chairs in the dining room, and fast-walked back to Alec. It wouldn't help a lot, but it would be enough to at least make him more comfortable while sitting. With a small tug on his shirt sleeve, I got him to stand up long enough for me to slip the cushion on the seat and sit him back down like a child. His cheeks turned a cute shade of pink and he looked up at me through his eyelashes, almost like a puppy. I just smiled an apology and kissed him until I smelled something burning, running back to the stovetop. I didn't want a repeat of the night before.

So around four o'clock in the morning, my boyfriend and I sat down on my couch, with the cat switching between whose lap he was laying on, eating (mildly burnt)breakfast burrito dinners while a quiet, subtitled version of Scrubs played on my TV. I had quite a while before I had to go to the bar and I felt like we had all the time in the world to just… be together.

**A/N- I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE I REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE ANYMORE I'M SO SORRY. I got 86 reviews for the last chapter and I feel like I let all of you down when I don't update fast enough, it's just that I don't have time and when I do have time I'm tired and my writing is shitty ;_; winter holidays in November and December-January, I will try so hard to push out faster updates when I can, thanks for understanding you guys!  
>In other news, I really loved your reviews and if you could vote on the poll it would be fantastic! Might have to do with a new oneshot I'm postiiiiing…<strong>

**Love and kisses and Malec and lesbians and ROCK N ROLL  
>~Ella, who is stuffy a-fucking-gain. <strong>


	26. Twenty-Six Napkins

**A/N- So I know most of you are upset about me not updating this for so long, and I feel like I should've just put it on official hiatus instead of basically ignoring it for a while, but you guys have to understand that I have a life outside of the fandom. I have high school and friends and family and a life, and as much as I love this story and writing and stuff sometimes I just can't get to it at the end of the day. I'm trying to adjust to high school and I'm already working on college things and I occasionally find other things that I like, you know? Other fandoms and books and things like that. **

**I'm sorry for not updating for so long, I know there are lots of dedicated people who were looking forward to new chapters and I let you down. But I'm done with that shit now, I have enough free time to work on this, and although things will be slower than they used to be, at least they're not at a standstill anymore. So, let's move on. **

**And just a big huge thank you to all of the fantastic people who still reviewed and still faved/followed and everything. You helped me push myself to get this done and I really appreciate it. You're all my inspiration and it means a lot to me that you put up with my bullshit for so long.  
>Disclaimer- Really?<strong>

Although I really would have liked to stay with Alexander all day, lounging on the couch doing less than nothing, I had work in the afternoon and had to reluctantly pull away from his warm body to get ready. Alec just smiled at me and stretched on the couch, reminding me so much of Chairman Meow I had to grin.

After putting on acceptable clothing, and fixing myself so I didn't look like I had just had sex with my boyfriend, I gave Alec a quick kiss goodbye, letting him know that he could stay there as long as he wanted to while I was gone. He smiled warmly at me and the kiss he gave me was going to be more than enough to get me through the rest of the day.

I was driving idly in my car, listening to some shitty pop song on the radio that I actually loved when my brain suddenly rewound all the way to the night before then proceeded to replay it before my eyes. I had been so busy enjoying Alec that I had completely forgotten about Alec _talking_. The revelation almost caused me to swerve out of my lane, but I caught myself before I let my love life cause a twenty car pileup on the interstate.

He had _spoken_ the night before; it hadn't just been my imagination, though it had a tendency to run wild when it came to Alexander. His lips and his tongue and his mouth had worked together to do something even more amazing than they usually did and words came out. _I love you_, he had said, out loud, directed at me, as we were lying together after the first time we made love.

I almost started crying in the middle of the highway.

And although I was proud and amazed and shocked and all of those other things I couldn't help but wonder how he had learned. Or maybe he always knew how to speak properly, but was too embarrassed because of the odd but very endearing accent he had? I wondered if he had a coach or a class he went to like I did and why he finally decided to say something to me. Did anyone else know? Jace? Izzy? His parents? Did he keep it a secret or does he chat with everyone else and just wasn't comfortable enough with me to say anything until the night before?

I sighed as I pulled into the parking lot of the bar, confused and a little upset, maybe kind of hurt, but mostly curious. There was a rather loud and obnoxious personal debate going on inside my head about whether or not I should bring up the topic with Jace. I didn't want to reveal something about Alec he'd kept a secret but not knowing was awful.

After sitting in the parking lot by myself for a good fifteen minutes, I ultimately decided against bringing anything up with Jace. I figured I'd just take a few minutes to talk to Alec himself when I got off of work. It wouldn't be right for me to let loose that kind of information. I sighed again and got out of the car, speed walking to the bar and finding Jace already there. He had probably shown up while I was dicking around in my car. He gave me a welcoming grunt as I entered and I returned it, adding a slight nod to change it up a bit.

"Hey is Alec still at your house?" he asked a little suddenly, although I wasn't exactly surprised. He almost always asked whose house Alec was at. I was never sure why.

"Yeah…"

He nodded slowly and went back to messing with one of the beer nozzles as I went about cleaning things and scouring together the last of the peanuts to set out for hungry bar-goers. I felt his eyes on me for a few minutes until I finally snapped towards him. He made a weird snorting laugh sound and grinned at me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"You look like shit." He chuckled at me and I kind of just deadpanned, staring at him with a blank look. Half of my brain was still focused on Alec and the whole situation surrounding him, while the other half of my brain didn't give a shit what Jace was saying, although I ran a somewhat self-conscious hand through my hair.

"Had a long night," I said, drowsy. Getting up at three in the morning to eat breakfast was coming back to kick me in the ass.

"Oh really?" he asked. "Finally get it in then?"

He was joking. I knew he was joking, because he always asked about it, every time I brought Alec up. I was actually used to it, it was a constant thing, but I always wondered why he was so interested in my sex life. It wasn't even mine, really, it was Alec's. And I laughed at him for a solid minute because this time I actually had slept with Alec and it was all so ridiculous that he had to question me about it that I couldn't help laughing.

I got an eyebrow raise in return and a small glare.

"Yeah, actually," I said. "Even though it's none of your business."

"Wait, what?"

I just shook my head, kind of smiling at the memory. "It doesn't really concern you, does it?"

"Yes it does, he's my brother." I felt a smack on my arm. "You fucking slept with him?"

"That's what I just said!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "And I'll repeat this- it's none of your business." The words didn't faze him, he just kept ranting.

"Magnus, what the hell! I told you to wait!"

My eyes narrowed in his direction. "I _did_ wait," I said loudly. "For six months."

"That's not-"

"Why do you need to know anyway?" I interrupted, basically spitting the question at him. "It's not your relationship; I don't understand why you feel the need to constantly ask me things about it. I get that he's your brother and you want to protect him or whatever in this backwards way you always do, but it's getting stupid. And honestly a little creepy."

"Jesus, come on," he groaned. "You know Alec, you know how he is, he's gonna get attached to you now that you two have…" The sentence died off while Jace made an awkward motion with his hands.

"Alec and I are both adults who make our own decisions, in case you forgot. We weren't drunk or some other shit, it was completely consensual, and you're freaking out about it! Why is this such a big deal to you?"

He slammed his hands down on the bar, the sound of skin to wood contact echoing through the room. "Because it's exactly what Chris did!"

My retort, whatever it was going to be, disappeared and I paused to look at him. "What?"

"He and Chris just fucking jumped right into bed the first chance they got and you know how well that ended! Chris used him for the sake of using someone, the pathetic bastard, and Alec got hurt because of it, he was fucking _crushed_ okay? He's… he's sensitive and fragile and sometimes I swear he's my fucking sister, and when it comes to relationships he falls harder and faster than most people."

"I didn't-"

"And I swear to god, Magnus, if he gets his heart broken _again_, I will actually fucking kill you."

The sudden change in his mood caught me off guard; the violent over-protective brother side of him wasn't something I was used too.

"I'm not _using_ him for anything, and the fact that you would assume I am is ridiculous," I said. "I would never purposely do that to him, or anything like that."

"I know that, I'm just…" He shook his head and went back to angrily putting away glasses and cleaning things up.

"Over-protective," I finished for him.

He glared at me but didn't comment on it, just sort of exhaled and turned away again. "After seeing how fucked up Chris left him I wanted to murder the guy-"

"Obviously."

A martini glass nearly broke as he threw it into the sink. "And I know you're both adults and shit, but can you really blame me?"

"Not… really."

"Yeah that's what I thought."

I was quiet for a moment. "I can't believe you actually thought I'd use him for something." He didn't respond or stop his cleaning so I continued. "I love him more than anything, you know that." Nothing. "Haven't you ever had someone like that? Someone you love too much to ever hurt?"

He sighed and turned around to face me, though his eyes were to the ceiling and his lips were pursed. "I have to admit, I'm basically the same way with Clary."

"Mmmmhm."

"And I know it's fucking cheesy but I do love her."

I just raised an eyebrow and grinned. Jace was full of weird not-Jace personalities and it seemed like I was seeing all of them that day.

A silence fell over the two of us, both of us thinking of our respective partners. I was particularly thinking about the night before and found myself smiling, only to see that Jace was too.

And it was fucking weird.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So, we're like… all good then?"

"Huh?" He looked at me, had been staring at some space behind me before, and blinked a few times. "Oh, yeah, it's-"

"So you're not-?"

"Nah, I just-"

"And you won't-"

"Not anymore, no."

"So everything's just-"

"Yeah, sorry for like…"

"It's fine."

The amount of awkward had been amped up to the point where I thought I was going to choke on it, so I let my eyes wander around the room until they landed on the door to the back. I sort of pointed to it. "I'm just gonna…"

He nodded once, quickly. "Yeah…"

I nodded too and awkwardly slunk into the back room, closing the door and sitting down on the couch so I could text Alec to see if he'd be there when I got home. After he said he would be I set my phone down and ran my fingers through my hair. It'd been a weird day.

**A/N- Sooo that's the chapter, uh, I hope it was alright, I think it was pretty not bad for having not written anything in some horrendous amount of months, so reviews are super-duper really amazingly appreciated, and I hope you all aren't too mad at me. **

**Also just thank you to one of my really good friends Veronica, she just really encouraged me to write and stuff and she's awesome uwu**

**I already have a bit of the next chapter written so it won't take nearly as long to get that one posted and hopefully I'll see all of you then? Yeah. **

**-Ella, who sucks but still loves you all and promises the next chapter will have lots of fluffy malec in it. **

**PS: CAN WE PLEASE JUST SCREAM ABOUT GODFREY GAO FOR A SECOND EEEEEEP**


	27. Twenty-Seven Napkins

**A/N- Hey hey hey, thanks for all of the lovely perfect amazing reviews you guys :3 I want to squish all your faces and give you kisses. Thanks for sticking around and being perfect people *kissu***

**This chapter has more Malec, fuck yeah. Warning- copious amounts of fluff ahead. You may choke. **

**Also. Those 1,000+ reviews are what Lemongrab would say UN-UNACCEPTABLE. As in, THANK YOU SO MUCH IM SCREAMING FOREVER THIS IS THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME I WANT TO CRY AND HUG AND KISS ALL OF YOU AND MAKE YOU COOKIES YES JUST THANK YOU SO MUCH ASDHKSAJDHSAKDHAKSJD**

**Disclaimer- wait do I actually even need this? Is it necessary at this point or like…? Just?**

At ten thirty that night, I was standing outside the door to my own apartment, struggling to get the goddamned keys in the stupid tiny keyhole. My eyes were foggy and my hands weren't working right, not to mention my stomach kept yelling at me every few seconds.

The whole day had been atrociously long and incredibly boring, with little touches of awkward interactions with Jace and a copious amount of Alec on my mind. I texted him in-between costumers, wondering if it would be clingy of me to ask him to stop by even though I'd been with him the whole day before that. I decided it was.

Alec was still there when I finally got the door open, seated on the couch with my cat, just like he said he'd be. He didn't notice me come in, even though I stumbled and nearly fell on my face. He just continued petting the Chairman and smiling softly at a silent program on the TV.

Being the sneaky bastard that I was, I decided to sneak up and surprise him a little. With my coat thoroughly tossed into a rumpled pile on an armchair and my shoes abandoned near the door, I swiftly walked toward Alec and got my arms around his chest from behind, hugging him backwards over the back of the couch.

He didn't even jump, much to my dismay, just turned his head to look at me and kissed y cheek, smiling in a way that should've been illegal. I felt him turn in my arms and he suddenly got taller. Upon further inspection, I saw that he was on his knees on the couch cushions, hugging me tightly with the piece of furniture between us, while Chairman Meow mewed unhappily from the floor he was unceremoniously pushed onto. Alec kissed me again, sweetly, and then leaned back to smile at me, tumble-rolling off the couch a second later to get his phone off the coffee table. I felt my pocket buzz.

**How was work?**

I smiled at the domesticity of it all, and sent him a rather long and strongly worded story of how some drunkard managed to spill three beers and nearly cause a bar brawl. I went to change into something that wasn't skin tight jeans while he was reading it, coming back to a **Did you kick him out?**

_Of course. But only after he caused an issue. _

**The woes of being a bar manager.**

I smiled at him before going to search the kitchen for some sort of nutritious supplement. He flashed a grin my way.

_So what'd you do today?_

**I went to the grocery store since there was no food here. And I hung out with Izzy for a little while. Oh and she wants to know what hairspray you use. **

_Tell her it's French. _

**Of course it is. **

As I was rummaging through the fridge for something to make, admiring how much food Alec bought, I heard his soft footsteps coming my way. Pale arms and warm hands gripping a white smartphone came into my view, wrapping around my waist as a chin settled on my shoulder. Alec typed out his message for me right there, not bothering to actually send it when I could see it so well.

**By the way, I made you dinner :)**

I used his phone to reply.

_Aw, thank you babe_

He kissed the back of my jaw, right behind my ear, and unwrapped himself from me to find a bowl of chicken parmesan in the fridge that he handed to me.

**You might have to heat it up though.**

I gave him kisses as thank you's and grabbed a fork for the dinner he made for me, the sweet thing. The bowl he gave me was still warm; it obviously hadn't been in the fridge for very long and I wondered if he made it right when I told him I was on my way home. Whenever it was made, it was delicious.

While I was stuffing my face, I watched Alec watch Chairman Meow, asleep on the floor, with a thoughtful look. Then he suddenly had the sketchbook that was always around and a pencil in his hand, furiously sketching the napping feline. By the time I was done eating and putting away the dishes, he was down drawing and I had a sketch of my own cat held up in front of me as soon as I sat on the couch.

The drawing of Chairman was pretty spot on, getting the fur right and the paws realistic. The coffee table and the TV were even in the drawing, and I almost felt like I was looking at a graphite colored picture. The only odd thing was the pointy hat on his head. I laughed and got my phone out again.

_Why did you give him a party hat?_

Alec thought for a moment then just shrugged, handing me the picture. It was really quite cute, Chairman in a party hat. I made a mental note of it.

_This is precious._

'Thank you,' he signed. It was one of the few phrases he knew I could understand

_And so are you. _

He flushed a light pink and I just had to kiss his cheeks. And his forehead. And his nose. And his mouth. And his mouth again. And then again. And then he was lying down and I was on top of him, kiss after kiss after kiss. His hands were on the small of my back, right where it curved, his fingers sneaking underneath my shirt. I curled my fingers into his hair, which I noticed smelled like something fruity and was a little damp.

It wasn't long before Alec started making those wonderful noises in the back of his throat, tiny things that were barely sounds, but in our close proximity I could hear them perfectly. The memory of our rather busy time the night before came into my mind and I smiled against his lips.

My train of thought came to a screeching halt and caught on fire when I remembered what else happened that night. Alec talked, he spoke to me, it was clearly him, and I'd been so distracted by work and my need for food and Alexander's cuteness that I _forgot he spoke to me_.

I started pulling away immediately, only to have him try to kiss me again. It was when I started patting his chest and sitting up that he gave up and looked at me with a confused expression.

"You talked last night," I said, making sure he could see my lips. "You said you love me…"

His expression turned to something odd, a mixture of embarrassment and realization, and he moved for his phone. Some part of me expected that, but another part of me, an admittedly bigger part, wanted him to say "Yes, I did" and talk to me until I fell asleep in his arms, but I knew that wouldn't happen.

**You heard that?**

I just looked at him and he shut his eyes for a moment, rubbing at them with his fingers, before shifting about so he was sitting next to me, facing away. With my index finger, I took his chin and turned it towards me.

"What's wrong?" I mouthed.

He started biting his lip as he typed something slowly on his phone.

**I'm afraid it won't sound right, when I talk. I'm afraid I'll mess something up. I don't want to sound stupid. **

I rubbed at his shoulder and back and pulled him closer to me, deciding to use my phone to reply.

_Alec you have an amazing voice… and you told me the only thing I've ever really wanted to hear. I've been thinking about you all day, and what you said. And I know you tell me you love me all the time, but it was because you said it out loud, while we were wrapped up in each other, that made it so special. You made my heart stop and speed up at the same time. I love the way you talk. _

He turned to me after he read it and smiled a bit sadly at me.

**Thank you. Really. **

I kissed his cheek and pulled him into my lap, nuzzling his neck and rubbing his back. I knew I must've been a sensitive topic for him, it would be for anyone in his situation, and I could feel his shoulders tensing with the force of not crying. I rubbed the knots out of them and kissed his cheek, his neck, letting him stay there silently for a while. There was such a strong urge in my mind to ask him how long he'd been talking and why he didn't tell me, but I figured it'd be best to save the questions for later… Except one.

_Do you think I could hear it again?_

My heart raced when Alec opened and closed his mouth a bit, but then he just stuck his lip in between his teeth and looked at me sort of pleadingly. The expression he had made me regret asking him to speak for me immediately, as much as I wanted to hear his voice again.

_You don't have to if you're uncomfortable with it. I just love the sound of your voice. _

I got the same hesitant face and sad looking eyebrows and just shook my head lightly, kissing his cheek.

"It's okay," I mouthed to him. He still looked incredibly sad so I took the sides of his face in my hands and rubbed my thumbs along his cheek bones, below his eyes. With a little tug, I got him lying down next to me on the couch, a tangle of limbs and messy hair and then a cat.

We were like that for a long time, just lying there with Alec occasionally reaching out to stroke Chairman Meow's head or letting him play with the string on his hoodie. The sun was long gone and the only light was coming from the TV. I could feel my mind slowly shutting off and my body getting heavy with sleep. By the way he was still and breathing slowly, I assumed Alec had fallen asleep in my arms.

It was only a few minutes after I had closed my eyes, not completely asleep, that I felt Alec move farther up on the couch, until his head rested comfortably in my neck. I could feel his warm breath on my skin and his mouth near my ear. My heart started pounding, his was too, but I didn't open my eyes. There were a few more seconds of awful waiting, and then I heard a sound, his voice, the endearing impediment still in place, scared and unsure and barely above a whisper, but saying a phrase that never failed to make my gut twist in the best way possible.

"Love you," he had said.

I smiled a bit and opened an eye to see both of his, staring at me with an odd questioning as I raised the sign to him sleepily. He gave me a smile too, a small one, and a kiss that spoke more words than he ever needed to. And we both pulled ourselves off the couch, me turning off the TV while he scooped up our phones. He led the way to the bedroom, and I followed him, my hands on his hips, waiting to enjoy the feeling of waking up next to him in the morning.

**A/N- Suh-nap, this didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to u.u It's just very hard to get anything sad into this story when it's ninety percent fluff… I hope it's still pretty good though, hm, reviews are much appreciated.  
>I put another poll on my profile, I don't know why. Polls are fun. So yeah, do that thing where you click the buttons and stuff. I also found an awesome pic on deviantART that looks exactly like my headcanon for this story so I'll put a link on my profile, go art!<br>-Ella, WHO IS STILL SCREAMING ABOUT ONE THOUSAND REVIEWS GOD I LOVE YOU ALL**

**PS: My best friend and I are thinking about starting a Fanfiction club, would that be weird or cool?**


	28. Twenty-Eight Napkins

**A/N- Hey lovely readers, what's crackatackalackafackatrackabacking in your neck of the woods I loved your reviews, as per usual, you guys make my fucking day :3**

**Also sorry for the lateness, my favorite band just broke up and I'm still grieving u.u But this is the chapter you've all basically been waiting for and yeah um remember 'blah blah blah' means it's been signed, "blah blah blah" means it's been said. **

_**IMPORTANT NOTICE: I have a song for this one**_**- Sea of Love, on the Juno soundtrack. Listen to it. On repeat. Please. No really. Do it. **

**Disclaimer- No okay but in all seriousness I'm just gonna stop putting these because it's clear to everyone that I don't own jack shit here. **

The following days were a blur of the inside of the bar, cat hair, Alec's smile, and silent TV shows. I would go to work, come home to feed Chairman, then either cuddle up with Alec or stop by his house for a few hours. We saw each other quite a lot during the rest of the week, and one of us always ended up staying at the other's house. It was almost like we were living together, but not quite.

Alec didn't bring up the subject of his speech for a while, and when he did it wasn't usually on his own, but he slowly opened up about it. **I have a coach**, is what he told me. And apparently he'd had that coach for quite a while, basically ever since he went deaf, but he was much more comfortable just signing, which was very understandable.

And over those few days, I decided something- I was going to show him my progress in learning ASL. I figured that if he could share his voice with me, I could share my signing with him. After a final run-through with my ASL teacher that Thursday, I went to pick up Alec the next day for a picnic, a nice one, under a big tree in a park, somewhere we could be alone but as soon as I drove up to his house it starting raining. Not just drizzles; buckets. I sighed, my plan foiled by the weather, but then took the picnic supplies I had brought out of my car, carrying them up to Alec's house with me.

Alec had been looking worriedly out the window when I arrived, and opened the door for me immediately, greeting me with a kiss and knitted eyebrows. I smiled, held up the basket that contained all we needed for our picnic pleasures, and shut the door behind me.

_We can have a picnic inside. _

He looked up from the text, confused, and then saw me settling a blanket over his floor, taking food out of the basket, wine. Smiling shyly, he joined me on the floor, accepting the glass of red wine I offered him.

We sat on his floor, leaning against the big black couch he had, drinking good wine, eating good food, sharing the same glances and smiles. There were no words being said or typed, we just sat together, playing with the other's hands and giving sweet kisses.

It was near the end of our meal that the tickle of nervousness in the back of my head evolved into an irritation, one that was making my hands sweat and my mouth get a bit dry. As much as I had practiced, there would always be the fear of messing something up, of saying the wrong thing, that would be in my head… but then I looked at where Alec was sitting next to me, holding my hand, giving me the subtly but very happy look he always gave me, and I let go of him for a moment to get my phone.

_I've been meaning to show you something for a while…_

He looked at the text, then at me, a little curious but with the same sparkle in his eye that made my heart do something funny. I took a breath, swallowing thickly, and lifted my hands to begin the sentence I had been practicing for months, speaking along with the words my hands made, just in case.

'I've been learning sign language for you.'

I watched his face carefully and his smiled seemed to fade away, melting into a confused half-frown. I kept going, slower this time.

'Every Tuesday and Thursday I go to the community center for ASL classes,' I continued. My hands were shaking a little, and I had to pause to open and close them into fists a few times. Alec was still watching me, almost expressionless, but with wide eyes.

'I wanted to learn for you, so we could talk together in your language, instead of just using our phones.'

I saw him swallow, blinking away tears that were making his eyes glassy. 'You didn't have to,' he signed.

It wasn't exactly the reaction I had been hoping for. 'But I wanted to.'

He shook his head, sniffing, rubbing at his eyes. 'I mean you shouldn't have to.'

'What do you mean?'

'You spent so much time of your life learning this for me and… that's so amazing of you, but I'm not worth it.'

I raised my eyebrows at him, confused. 'What? No, you're-'

The rest of my sentence was lost on him, as he continued anyway, hands moving faster than before. 'I'm not worth all of this; I'm just some deaf kid. Deaf kids should be with other deaf kids, and it was selfish of me to choose you, of all people. You deserve someone better, someone who can give you everything you want. You'll always be missing something, and it's my fault.'

Tears were running down his cheeks and he kept rubbing his eyes, didn't look at my face. I tried to tell him that nothing was his fault, that I wanted to be with him regardless of his deafness, but he paid no attention to what I was signing. He stood up suddenly, to put our empty glasses on the table, for some reason, and started pacing, walking around while still signing to me.

I couldn't catch what he was trying to say, his hands were moving so fast, shaking, and he wouldn't stand still. I got some things from him 'selfish,' 'my fault,' 'deserve better.' I wanted to tell him to stop, that it was okay, that I loved him, but he wouldn't even lift his head to look at me, I couldn't get his attention.

On instinct, I called out his name, but on the second syllable it died in my throat, and I paused, watched him. I suddenly understood what he meant, that I would be missing something, that it was 'his fault.' He would never be able to hear me, that was just a fact, but he felt like it was his fault he couldn't hear me, would never hear me say his name or tell him I love him or sing to him. He felt like it was wrong for him to love me, and he could never give me the relationship I wanted. It made tears start to prick my eyes, falling out of the corners, sliding down to my chin.

Alec was still pacing the floor, his face scrunched in an angry expression, his hands flying around to make words, rubbing his face, gripping his hair. He looked like he was in pain, like he was miserable, hated himself. It was frightening me, making me panic, and I had no way to calm him down. I tried to reach out to him, to make him look at me, but he kept moving out of my grip.

One of the wine glasses hit the floor, sent there by Alec's hand, sending shards every which way. I jumped at the sound of it shattering, but he just watched it break, hands going to his hair again. He doubled over and pressed his palms into his eyes, making a terrible noise of frustration that sent chills down my spine.

He kept moving, barely avoiding the pile of shattered glass on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut as more tears slipped out, rolled down his red cheeks. I stood there, shocked, with my arm outstretched towards him, but at that point I really couldn't do anything. He was shaking, stumbling around as he paced.

More noises ripped out of his throat, like he wanted to scream but couldn't open his mouth, couldn't breathe. My chest squeezed painfully with every sound he made, and my throat felt thick when I swallowed. I wasn't aware of anything anymore, there was nothing but Alec and I couldn't feel my legs or my arms as I went to him.

I finally took him by his shoulders, stopped him mid-stride, grabbed his wrists and removed them from his hair. He struggled against me for a moment, trying to wrestle his wrists out of my grip, but then he stopped moving all of a sudden, letting his shoulders sag. He looked at me through teary red eyes, stared into my own watery ones, and I saw his face completely break. His eyebrows crashed together and his lips pursed into a straight line, trying to keep himself together. He collapsed into my chest, burying his face into my shirt and clutching the fabric around my sides.

I caught him as he fell into me, letting go of his wrists and wrapping my arms around his shoulders instead, pulling him closer to me, keeping him from falling down. Sobs wracked his body, first because he was holding them in, but then because he finally let them out. He kept trying to breathe through it, to somehow catch his breath, but he couldn't, causing him to make more heartbreaking noises, muffled from his face being hidden.

The sound of him crying, weeping, like that just… ripped my heart out of my chest, made my arms tighten around him, trying to convey to him that I wasn't going to leave him, wasn't going to let go of him. Not now, not ever. I tried to stop my own crying, tried to stay strong, for him, but I felt my eyes overflowing with wetness, and my body shaking with the effort of keeping them in.

We stayed there for a long time, long enough that my shirt started to feel damp against my skin and Alec's sobbing turned into pitiful sniffles. The grip he had kept on my shirt slowly loosened, and I pulled away from his body to look at him. He kept his gaze on the floor though, embarrassed, wouldn't look at me at all.

I brought my hands up to his face, brushed my thumbs underneath his eyes, scattering the remaining tears there. He still wouldn't look at me, just closed his eyes, his head hanging. I kissed his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, the corners of his eyes, and he finally opened them, tilted his head up, to look at me through wet eyelashes.

He swallowed once and opened his mouth to say, in a very broken, strangled voice, "I'm sorry."

My heart broke all over again, and I felt my throat tighten, knew I wouldn't be able to say anything back. I put my hand on his cheek, and smiled very softly at him as watched the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. And I knew that he didn't need me to sign anything or say anything, he just needed me to be there. We didn't need any words then, whether they were signed or spoken or typed. We just needed each other. We were enough.

**A/N- I don't know about you guys but this one hurt me. I hope I conveyed enough feeling in it, I hope I did Alec some justice here, guhh, I hope you like it uhurhg**

**I just, ow my heart. Eh heh, reviews are very very super awesomely wicked welcomed. Aka please review, I will love you for eternity. **

**-Ella, who is just kind of kjasdlfhliue**


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